Philippines biodiversity site pushes back on mining

A nickel stockpile towers over farmer Moharen Tambiling’s rice paddy in the Philippines’ Palawan, evidence of a mining boom that locals hope a new moratorium will tame.

- Cecil Morella, Agence France-Presse

“They told us before the start of their operations that it wouldn’t affect us, but the effects are undeniable now,” Tambiling said. “Pangolins, warthogs, birds are disappearing. Flowers as well.” A biodiversity hotspot, Palawan also holds vast deposits of nickel, needed for everything from stainless steel to electric vehicles. Once the world's largest exporter of the commodity, the Philippines is now racing to catch up with Indonesia. In 2021, Manila lifted a nine-year ban on mining licences.

Despite promised jobs and tax revenue, there is growing pushback against the sector in Palawan. In March, the island’s governing council unanimously passed a 50-year moratorium on any new mining permits. “Flash floods, the siltation of the sea, fisheries, mangrove areas... We are witnesses to the effects of long-term mining,” Nieves Rosento, a former local councillor who led the push, said.

Environmental rights lawyer Grizelda Mayo-Anda said the moratorium could stop nearly 70 proposed projects spanning 240,000 hectares. “You have to protect the old-growth forest, and it’s not being done,” she said. From 2001 to 2024, Palawan—dubbed the country's “last ecological frontier” — lost 219,000 hectares of tree cover, more than any other province, in part due to mining, according to Global Forest Watch.