Rose-Liza Eisma-Osorio

Atty. Rose-Liza Eisma-Osorio is one of the founders and managing trustee of the Philippine Earth Justice Center, Inc. (PEJC), which has filed several environmental cases in Visayas and Mindanao. She is particularly known as one of the two lawyers who are recognized as the stewards of the dolphins and whales of Tañon Strait Protected Seascape in Central Visayas in the April 2015 decision of the Supreme Court for the landmark case, Resident Marine Mammals and Dolphins vs. Reyes, against illegal oil exploration in a protected area. 

A legal specialist with 21 years of experience in the field of institutional and planning dimensions of natural resources management, particularly marine and coastal resources management. Her expertise is focused on the fields of governance, institutional development, monitoring and evaluation, environmental policy and advocacy, and technical legal support for natural resource conservation.

She has co-authored and co-edited numerous books and articles. After graduating from the University of the Philippines-Diliman with a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry degree, Atty. Eisma-Osorio earned her Juris Doctor at the Silliman University, Philippines and a Certificate of Attendance in Coastal Management with Masteral Units at the University of Rhode Island, Coastal Resource Center, U.S.A.

She has been teaching environmental law, legal research and writing, property law, administrative law, and private international law, among others for the past 21 years. Currently, she is a professor of law of University of Cebu in the Philippines. At the same time, she is the Faculty Adviser and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Research in Law and Policy and the coach of the environmental law mooting team of the same university.

She is currently the Chair of the Governing Board of the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law (IUCNAEL). She is also a member of Steering Committee of the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law (WCEL).