The Philippine marine ecosystem is one of the world's richest, but it is also one of the most abused. Today, only 5 percent of its coral reefs remain pristine. Seventy percent of the country's mangrove forests have been logged or converted to other uses. Half of all seagrass beds are now either lost or severely degraded. Antonio Oposa Jr. remains convinced that the situation can be reversed, for the sake of future generations.

The young Oposa found his sentimental home in his grandfather's seaside farm on Bantayan Island, in Cebu, and in his teenage years became passionate about preserving the environment. This passion later found expression in a career of wide-ranging and sometimes risky advocacies on behalf of Mother Nature: field enforcement of fishing and logging laws, environmental litigation, education on sustainable living, advising local governments on crafting environment-preserving legislation, establishing marine sanctuaries.

As a lawyer and environmental activist Oposa made his mark with an unusual case that later popularized the "Oposa Doctrine" in international legal circles. This was a class action he filed in which forty-three minors asked government to cancel timber licenses on the grounds that rampant logging violated their constitutional rights to a healthy environment. In a 1993 decision, the Supreme Court upheld the principle of "intergenerational equity," affirming Oposa's argument that the interests of future generations could be protected in court. A triumph of principle, the case set a precedent for how citizens can leverage the law to protect the environment.

Oposa demonstrated this in 1999 when a citizens group boldly filed a case holding government liable for the pollution of Manila Bay and responsible for its cleanup. Marshalling the resources of law and pursuing the case for all of ten years, he won a Supreme Court decision compelling twelve government agencies to coordinate their efforts in rehabilitating Manila Bay, submit action plans, and to regularly report to the Court on the progress of their work.

After earning a master's degree in environmental law from Harvard Law School, in 1998 Oposa decided to devote himself entirely to environmental work. Despite the attractions of a lucrative practice, he declared that from thereon "my clients will be the land, the air, and the waters."

Setting up his base on Bantayan Island, he organized the Law of Nature Foundation, a network of citizen volunteers engaged in monitoring coral reef sites, establishing marine sanctuaries, and assisting local governments in drafting environmental legislation. Coordinating with law enforcement bodies, he organized the Visayan Sea Squadron, undertaking sea patrols and raids on boat operators and dynamite producers engaged in illegal fishing. At great risk to his life, he organized and led some of the most daring enforcement operations against environmental crime syndicates behind the banned dynamite fishing.

Recognizing that education is the key to sustainable change, he founded School of the SEAs (Sea and Earth Advocates), a non-profit, experiential learning center that has already trained more than five thousand people in environmental awareness and sustainable living.

Hailed as one of Asia's leading voices in the global arena of environmental law, the ebullient Oposa describes himself as basically a storyteller for man and nature, and explains that law is only his medium. Nonetheless, he says that the law is important as "a tool for thinking," and to save the environment, "there must be a revolution of the mind, of attitudes." "We need," he says, "to change the way we think."

In electing Antonio Oposa Jr. to receive the 2009 Ramon Magsaysay Award, the board of trustees recognizes his pathbreaking and passionate crusade to engage Filipinos in acts of enlightened citizenship that maximize the power of law to protect and nurture the environment for themselves, their children, and generations still to come.