Save Palawan's Forests
Helping Communities Defend the Earth
Justice Shapes the Future of Palawan
A Message from ELAC
As Palawan faces growing pressure from extractive industries, energy projects, and competing development paths, one question matters more than ever: Who decides the future of our land, waters, and communities?
At the Environmental Legal Assistance Center (ELAC), our answer is clear: justice must shape that future.
Justice means communities are not sidelined, but heard. It means Indigenous Peoples’ rights are respected and upheld. It means environmental laws are enforced fairly without exception. And it means development and energy transitions do not create new sacrifices for the same communities who have long protected Palawan’s ecosystems.
In 2026, ELAC’s work and voice are guided by a simple message:
Justice shapes the future of Palawan.
This message reflects years of learning alongside communities—where forests stand strongest when people participate, where conflicts lessen when consent is respected, and where hope grows through collective action. Whether we are engaging on forest protection, participatory governance, Indigenous leadership, or just energy transition, our commitment remains the same: people and nature must come first.
We share this message not as a slogan, but as a commitment—to stand with communities, to uphold the law, and to help build a future where Palawan thrives because justice leads the way.
Together, let’s shape a just future for Palawan.
#JusticeShapesTheFuture #EnvironmentalJustice #IndigenousRights #JustEnergyTransition
“Creating our resource and land-use map showed how our forest, farms, and rivers connect—and why we must protect them. With ELAC we turned our sketch into a real action plan.”
Pala'wan Tribe
Our Vision
ELAC envisions a resilient Philippine society, as part of an interdependent global community, governed by laws that promote climate justice and a healthful environment.
Our Mission
ELAC’s mission is to secure, protect and assert environmental rights, and equitable access to natural resources by communities.
Our Goals
1. To uphold transparent, accountable, and socially inclusive governance, that recognizes indigenous peoples and local ecological knowledge systems, and diverse identities.
2) To secure the enjoyment both present and future generations an abundance of ecological goods and services while preserving its integrity.
3. To empower communities as stewards of nature who are vigilant and assertive of their environmental rights.
5. To advocate for just and responsive environmental laws, policies, and programs and push for their effective implementation.
4. To secure and protect the rights of communities-at-risk from environment-related emergencies and crises.
6. To enhance ELAC’s capacity to sustain its work to promote climate justice and a healthful environment.
About ELAC - The Environmental Legal Assistance Center (ELAC), founded in 1990 and registered as a non-profit organization in 1997, empowers communities to safeguard natural resources and environment through developmental legal assistance, education, and advocacy. Viewing environmental protection, human rights and social justice as inseparable, ELAC combats deforestation, extractive and destructive development projects and coastal degradation by pursuing public interest litigation, shaping policy, and building local capacity. Its core work includes training community paralegals and forest, wildlife and fish wardens, strategic litigation on extractive and destructive development activities, and pushing for stronger environmental legislation and enforcement. Despite political pressure and corporate threats, ELAC’s team continues to pursue environmental justice and conservation projects that protect forests and marine biodiversity, urging local and global partners to join the cause.
Our Partners
