On February 4, the Philippines signed an agreement with the United States on critical minerals at a U.S. hosted summit in Washington. The meeting was attended by 54 countries and is part of the U.S. push to identify new sources and supply chains to circumvent China’s near stranglehold on an industry key to renewable energy, technology, and the military-industrial complex. The Philippines and many other participating countries have their own reasons to want to diversify their markets, but they also face significant threats of trade and other retaliation if they don’t cooperate with the Trump administration.
One subject not on the agenda in Washington, but that should be central to any accord between the U.S. and the Philippines, is the welfare of the communities in mining and mineral processing areas. While the final Memorandum of Understanding between the two countries has not been made public, a draft minerals framework shared by the State Department in advance of the meeting failed to include any binding measures on human rights, environmental, or climate protections. This opens the door to potential abuses.
My organization, Climate Rights International, has documented how nickel mining in the Philippines drives human rights abuses and devastates the natural environment. Our 125-page report, “Broken Promises,” released in Manila in November 2025, describes how nickel mining in the Caraga Region, home to more metallic mines than any other part of the country, leads to increased vulnerability to the climate crisis; the destruction of fishing and farming livelihoods; severe environmental pollution that threatens drinking water and health; increased rates of food insecurity; new difficulties accessing education; and intimidation of those who speak out.
We spoke with mothers who couldn’t afford to feed their families because of the destruction of their rice fields and fisheries due to pollution from upstream nickel mines. Ann Julie, a young mother and fisherwoman from Tubajon, Dinagat Island, described how siltation and environmental pollution from nickel mining negatively impacts the natural habitat of crabs, so her catch is little to nothing and she now struggles to pay for basic necessities, including food. She told us, “It was much better before mining was here. There was such a better livelihood. We never worried about having enough food to feed our kids. There are times we run out of food… It’s painful. Our kids will ask for a snack but there’s nothing we can give them.”
Others told us that their communities now experience increased flooding and more severe extreme weather events due to the destruction of forests and mangroves by the mining industry. In some cases, anti-mining activists faced physical and digital attacks, criminalization, red-tagging, and killings for speaking out. Multiple people, including a prominent anti-mining activist and a local politician, told us that they were informed that bounties had been put on their heads due to their anti-mining position.
Many, if not all, of these harms can be avoided. While mining will always cause some negative impacts on the environment, such egregious human rights abuses could be mitigated by stronger enforcement of laws and regulations by the Philippine government, legal accountability for mining companies who engage in wrongdoing, and a seat at the decision-making table for local communities and civil society groups.
Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Raphael P.M. Lotilla, who signed the agreement with the U.S., claimed that the MoU will be, “part of our overall commitment to responsible mining by upholding environmental standards and protecting the well-being of local communities.” Yet, DENR and its Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) are currently failing to adequately monitor and regulate the mining industry and its impacts on people and the environment.
If the Philippines wants to position itself as a credible leader in the energy transition and in global minerals supply chains, it must immediately address the serious, ongoing harms in the mining sector. The government should urgently stop the permitting of new mines until the industry meets domestic and international environmental standards, including in the management of mining waste. It should also ensure that all new and existing mineral processing facilities are fully compliant with environmental and labor regulations and fully respect the rights of local communities and workers.
DENR should assess, monitor, and conduct independent and transparent investigations into pollution at and near nickel and other mining operations and make the findings of those investigations publicly available and accessible. It should immediately suspend the permits of mining companies found to have violated environmental regulations, and in serious cases, permanently revoke the permits of mining companies.
MGB should ensure that mining companies have environmentally and socially responsible operations that respect the environment and human rights, including by regularly conducting fully independent, unannounced inspections of mining operations.
The Philippine government must not allow the global rush to secure minerals from the U.S. and other countries in the Global North to drive serious harms to frontline communities and ecosystems. While it is too early to tell what exactly will come out of the new agreement, the Philippines government must prevent environmental degradation and human rights abuses, take responsibility when they occur, and put the health and welfare of local communities at the center of its agenda.
Krista Shennum is a Senior Researcher at Climate Rights International and the author of “Broken Promises”: Philippines Nickel Mining Causes Rights Abuses and Increases Climate Vulnerability.
