Heo/Geo Lecture Series 2026-07: Cole Yokingco on the intersection of geography, law and climate change

The Heo/Geo Lecture Series continues during the midyear. For the seventh presentation of this long-running series, the UP Department of Geography and the Philippine Geographical Society (PGS) are co-sponsoring the talk of an alumnus who is knee-deep in conservation work.

The talk is Ignoring boundaries: How geography, law, climate change, and biodiversity intersect by John Colin Yokingco from Conservation International Philippines and is happening via Zoom on Tuesday, 16th of June 2026 at 5:30PM. His talk looks at the link between the legal system and climate change. Where things are, how justice is defined, the impacts of climate change, and the diversity of life are important in addressing the challenges of our times, according to Yokingco. 

Geography and law are fields of study that may not be connected at first glance. One deals with how things interact spatially while the other deals with the obligatory norms set by those in power. Climate change and biodiversity on the other hand, although considered as subjects studied under the physical sciences, are usually addressed separately in the legal framework of the Philippines. In spite of their apparent boundaries, geography, law, climate change, and biodiversity intersect in more ways than we think. The impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss have no respect for boundaries set by the law. The international commitments of states mean nothing if local action receives no support. Finally, justice is fundamental to any solution to these issues. Discourse on these issues have progressed over the past 12 years. The overlaps and intersections will be discussed through the experiences of a geography graduate who has navigated the space over the same period through their professional career. From land use planning, defending human rights, and now conserving nature geography remains at the core of the approach. 

John Colin E. Yokingco is a legal and development professional who has worked on issues related to climate change, disaster risk management, and human rights. Cole currently works on policies related to natural climate solutions, biodiversity, and indigenous people’s rights as the Philippines Policy Senior Manager of Conservation International Philippines.

Jointly sponsored by the UP Department of Geography and the Philippine Geographical Society (PGS), the Heo/Geo Lecture Series is a monthly resource talk / lecture given by academic geographers, geography-adjacent scholars, practitioners working in geospatial industries, and partners that engaged in multiple publics, and based locally and abroad. The talk ranges from the sharing of research findings to pedagogical practices and field-based experiences. This month’s Heo/Geo Lecture Series is facilitated by two research clusters at the UP Department of Geography: Human Geography (HUG), and Environment and Development Geographies (EDGE) and is in line with the SDG #4 (Quality Education) and SDG #13 (Climate Action) of the United Nations.

To participate in the Zoom lecture, please click this link to register: https://tinyurl.com/53rf59w2

Geography Brown Bag Colloquium Series: Rescaling Nomosphere for Legal Geography Studies in the Philippines

Prof. Reidan M. Pawilen from the Department of Social Sciences, UP Los Baños is the keynote speaker for the third Geography Brown Bag Colloquium Series for the first semester. His discussion, Rescaling Nomosphere for Legal Geography Studies in the Philippines, highlighted legal geography as an emerging sub-discipline in human geography.

Legal geography deals with how people and places co-consitute the world. It draws from the “premise that the legal co-creates the spatial and the social, while the social and the spatial co-create the legal.” While there have been multitudes of studies concerning legal geography from the Global North, research on the subject matter from the Global South remain few and far between. This study serves as an active effort to enrich legal geography research in the Global South, giving emphasis on nuances that cannot be captured through generalizations obtained from the Global North alone. Using the framework nomosphere developed by Delaney investigates the “cultural-material environs that are constituted by the reciprocal materialization of ‘the legal’, the legal signification of the ‘socio-spatial’, and the practical performative engagements through which such constitutive moments happen and unfold.” In his study, Pawilen utilized the Bodong Indigenous Allied Group, Inc. (BIAG) as a case study for this conceptual framework.

Prof. Pawilen walked the audience through Bodong functions as an alternative dispute resolution method (ADR). The lack of representation for both Indigenous Peoples and IP rights in the country’s legal system led to a need to establish and reorganize to a more “formal” institution that the state could easily recognize. For the Bodong, it was their reformation as BIAG. BIAG’s method of enacting justice makes use of the group’s numbers to occupy a certain space, most often turning the home of the accused as a trial court, “to disrupt and neutralize the daily activities of the area and force a mediation between aggrieved parties.” The only limit given to these activities of enacting justice is that they do not violate any currently existing human right. Their means and reach are more flexible that the traditional legal process and can easily be adjusted on a case to case basis.

These IP institutions for justice such as the BIAG continuously challenge not only state authority and state laws but also other neighboring IP communities. One of the consequences of reorganizing such systems is that it exposed certain tensions between differing communities most especially in terms of jurisdiction. Given these circumstances, Prof. Pawilen ends the discussion on the idea of crafting a national ADR program that seeks to integrate and formalize Indigenous ADR practices to the legal system of the country.

* Quoted statements are taken from Prof.  Reidan M. Pawilen’s presentation

Geography Colloquium #3 (2019-2020): Reidan Pawilen on Nomosphere and Legal Geographies on September 27 (Fri)

For the third Geography Brown Bag Colloquium Series of the semester, Reidan Pawilen from the U.P. Los Baños-Department of Social Sciences will talk on legal geographies entitled Rescaling Nomosphere for Legal Geography Studies in the Philippines. This lecture happens on September 27 (Friday) at 4PM in Pavilion #2248.