Law students of Cagayan State University are set to gain deeper exposure to community-based environmental advocacy as the CSU College of Law joins Project RIDGE (Resilient and Inclusive Development through Green Environmental Justice) of Tanggol Kalikasan, Inc.

The collaboration was formalized through an addendum to the existing CSU–Tanggol Kalikasan MOU during a Zoom meeting on August 14, 2026, formally designating the CSU College of Law as an implementing partner under the Institute of Environmental Governance (IEG).

Project RIDGE seeks to connect legal education with actual environmental justice concerns in Eastern Luzon, particularly in the Sierra Madre region and neighboring coastal provinces.

Rather than limiting environmental law education to classroom instruction, the project will expose participating law students to community immersion, stakeholder engagement, participatory research, legal literacy, environmental advocacy, and the development of legal and non-legal strategies.

The project aims to produce at least 20 law students who can identify and critically analyze environmental justice issues and work with communities in developing appropriate advocacy strategies.

These students will also be trained to prepare integrated advocacy plans combining litigation, administrative remedies, policy advocacy, and community-led actions.

Through these trainings, community participants are expected to gain improved knowledge of environmental laws, procedures, environmental rights, and available mechanisms for seeking remedies.

The project will also conduct at least eight community consultations and planning sessions and eight environmental law, legal literacy, or community-based paralegal trainings, among other activities.

The initiative is designed to comply with the principles of the Clinical Legal Education Program under Revised Rule 138-A, which encourages law schools to develop practice-ready lawyers through engagement with marginalized communities and public-interest legal work.