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The Asia-Pacific region is consuming more resources than its ecosystems can sustain, threatening the future of the region’s beleaguered forests, rivers, and oceans as well as the livelihoods of those who depend on them, says a new joint report by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and WWF. The joint ADB-WWF study, Ecological Footprint and Investment in Natural Capital in Asia and the Pacific, focuses on ways of preserving key large-scale regional ecosystems, including the forests of Borneo, the marine wealth of the Coral Triangle, the Mekong region’s diverse habitats, and the mountainous Eastern Himalayas. These areas contain some of the region’s most important natural resources on which millions of people depend for their sustenance and development. “Major ecosystems such as the Coral Triangle and the heart of the Borneo rainforest are vital to the future of Asia and the Pacific,” said Nessim Ahmad, ADB’s Director for Environment and Safeguards. “We need large-scale programmatic efforts...

MANILA – Philippines Secretary of Finance Cesar V. Purisima (left) meets Asian Development Bank (ADB) President Haruhiko Kuroda at ADB headquarters as part of preparations for hosting the organization’s 45th Annual Meeting, which took place 2-5 May in Manila to discuss a range of issues related to economic and social progress for Asia and the Pacific. The annual meeting had attracted more than 4,000 participants and global media.

MANILA – Asian Development Bank president Haruhiko Kuroda opened Tuesday (June 5) a new rooftop solar power project that will provide clean, renewable energy to ADB’s 20-year-old headquarters in Manila. “Using rooftops and other open spaces is an efficient way for businesses and homes to capture and use the energy of the sun,” said S. Chander, Director General of ADB’s Regional and Sustainable Development Department. “We hope other companies will follow ADB’s example.” The 2,040 photovoltaic panels occupying 6,640 square meters on the roof of ADB’s main building will generate 613 megawatt hours of electricity per year to run a portion of the Bank’s air conditioning, lighting, and computer systems, reducing its carbon footprint. The solar rooftop project received support from Philippine government agencies, such as the Department of Energy, the City Government of Mandaluyong, the Manila Electric Company, the Civil Aviation Authority and the Department of Environment and Natural ...

WASHINGTON, D.C.– Every two seconds, an area of forest the size of a football field is clear-cut by illegal loggers around the globe. A new World Bank report released Tuesday shows how countries can effectively fight illegal logging through the criminal justice system, punish organized crime, and trace and confiscate illegal logging profits. The report, Justice for Forests: Improving Criminal Justice Efforts to Combat Illegal Logging, says that to be effective, law enforcement needs to look past low-level criminals and look at where the profits from illegal logging go. By following the money trail, and using tools developed in more than 170 countries to go after =dirty money,‘ criminal justice can pursue criminal organizations engaged in large-scale illegal logging and confiscate ill-gotten gains. The World Bank estimates that illegal logging in some countries accounts for as much as 90 percent of all logging and generates approximately US$10–15 billion annually in criminal proc...

The impeachment trial of CJ Renato C. Corona is an occasion that should be watched by every concerned citizen. I, for one, find it so entertaining that I don't want to miss any moment of it. Besides, I'm not a lawyer which is the reason why I wanted to learn and be educated more on how those legal terminologies are being applied in the court of law. How I wished the impeachment trial will go on forever because I'm amused every time I hear Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago berates and terrorizes the members of the prosecution on matters that have bearing on the articles of impeachment. However, last night was the most frustrating moment when Santiago again used the rostrum to go ballistics, as what the Philippine Daily Inquirer described it. I'm wondering if there is a law that allows an overly educated legislator to feast with verbal abuses and violate the human dignity of those prosecutors who couldn't come up with the necessary evidences they were supposed to p...

Las Vegas gambling mogul Steve Wynn is no longer allowed to set up a casino business in the Philippines. This developed after members of a congressional committee in the House of Representatives felt Wynn had denigrated the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) by alleging in his lawsuit in the United States that some Pagcor officials received bribes from Mr, Kazuo Okada, a Japanese business tycoon, and Wynn's estranged partner in Pagcor Entertainment City project in Manila Bay. In a statement released to the media by his representative Masahiro Terada, Okada said  that Wynn was supposed to be his business partner in the proposed Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation  (Pagcor) Entertainment City in the Philippines. Unfortunately, Wynn quit the joint venture in 2010. A leading daily said that Wynn has chosen to support his Wynn Entertainment Casino in Macau. While Okada has set his eyes on investing in the Philippine gaming industry, through Tiger Resor...

Enrile notes lack of prosecutors’ trial savvy Despite the tantrums made by Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago on the Senate floor, Wednesday's resumption of the impeachment trial against Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona had at least made a headway after a private prosecutor succeeded in convincing the Impeachment Court to allow the commissioner from the Bureau of Internal Revenue to take the witness stand. But this didn't happen in a flash as even the Impeachment Court's presiding officer--Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile --and the defense team were adamant against the idea of the prosecution team's move to present and cross examine Revenue Commissioner Kim Jacinto Henares as the first witness of the prosecution. Private prosecutor Atty. Arthur Lim had insisted, after consulting with his colleagues and reaffirming the defense team and the presiding officer that the questioning will not delve outside articles 2.2 and 2.3 of the Impeachment complaint ...