Atty. Antonio “Tony” Oposa

Tony Oposa is a legal luminary, tireless environmentalist, and recipient of the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award, and one of Asia’s most influential and unconventional, yet humble, environmental “warrior lawyers.” His passion, dedication and creative use of law underlie several momentous cases in the Philippines. With an unwavering commitment to protecting our planet, Tony Oposa has not only mastered the art of law but has also become its beacon in defending our environment.

Tony Oposa’s story begins in Cebu, Philippines, where he was raised by his grandparents. He started off his legal career at the University of Philippines College of Law. After graduating and passing the bar, Tony Oposa started his own practice where he represented prisoners pro bono. In his own words, he wanted to use his law degree “to do something meaningful.” He later practiced commercial law at a top law firm in Manila, but eventually came to realize his passions were not with the law, but rather with “the Sea, the trees and the fish.” This is when Atty. Oposa decided to study environmental and energy law, first at the University of Oslo’s summer program and later at Harvard Law School, where he obtained his LLM in 1997.