La Viña was born in Cagayan de Oro to lawyer and academic Gabriel La Viña and Mrs. Lourdes Chaves Maestrado-La Viña, who would later serve as city councilor for Cagayan de Oro City, and is the daughter of Silvino Dacapio Maestrado, former Congressman for the 1st District of Misamis Province. He graduated from the Ateneo de Manila University in 1980 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy. After teaching philosophy at the Ateneo and Xavier University, he took up law at UP College of Law at the University of the Philippines Diliman. He would later place third in the 1989 Philippine Bar Examination. La Viña spent several years as a professor of law at UP in the 1990s, and as a human rights and environmental attorney serving indigenous peoples and other local communities. From 1992-95, La Viña attended Yale Law School in New Haven, Connecticut, for his Master of Laws and Doctor of Juridical Science degrees. At Yale, he focused on international environmental law and policy and wrote a dissertation on climate change. That dissertation was later published as a book by the Institute of International Legal Studies of the University of the Philippines Law Centeer
Career
While studying at the University of the Philippines College of Law, La Viña co-founded with Supreme Court Associate Justice Marvic Leonen, Dr. Gus Gatmaytan now of Ateneo de Davao University, and Atty Nonette Royo who is director of the International Land and Forest Tenure Facility based in Stockholm, Sweden, the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center-Kasama sa Kalikasan, a human rights and environmental organization. He was LRC Director of Research and Development from 1987–91 and then from 1993–96. In 1996, at the age of 36, he was appointed Undersecretary for Legal and Legislative Affairs of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. As Undersecretary, his office emphasized the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities, efficient and fair access to justice in administrative decisions, public participation and stakeholder consensus building in environmental decision-making, and innovative programs in environmental regulation. Part of his duties included serving as the DENR's Crisis Manager, where he dealt with the department's response to, among others, the Marcopper mining disaster. In addition, he was chief negotiator for the Philippines in the implementation of Conventions on Biological Diversity and Climate Change from 1996-1998, where he was recognized as the lead negotiator for developing countries in the negotiation of the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change and the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. He served as Undersecretary until June 1998. From 1998 to 2006, he was director of the Biological Resources Program and Senior Fellow in Institutions and Governance of the World Resources Institute in Washington D.C., with several offers for plum posts in international organizations. In 2006, La Viña returned to the Philippines to accept an invitation to become Dean of the Ateneo School of Government, succeeding Acting Dean Antonette Palma-Angeles. With his administration, ASoG had emerged as a leading Philippine resource on environmental and climate change governance, being tapped by state, civil society, and international organizations for the design and implementation of local and national environmental policy. It has also gained recognition for advancing research, advocacies, and partnerships in social accountability, political reform, inclusive development and innovation, and social entrepreneurship. In addition to these roles, he served as adviser to the Philippine delegation to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and Coordinator in 2011-2012 for the Group of 77 and China for the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action on Climate Change. He served as a key facilitator for the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation-Plus negotiations under the UNFCCC from 2009 to 2011. He was a lead negotiator and spokesperson of the Philippine delegation during the 2015 Paris climate negotiations. La Viña's other current corporate and policy positions include:
Member, Board of Trustees, Southeast Asia Regional Initiatives for Community Empowerment
Previously, La Vina was a member of the Board of Trustees of Bioversity International and Center for Forestry Research. He was Chair, Board of Trustees, Institute for Social Entrepreneurship in Asia
Authorship and Publication
As an academician, lawyer, and environmental expert, La Viña has authored or edited numerous books, anthologies, monographs, and journal articles, mostly on environmental topics and issues. His experience in environmental issues has led him to author the chapter on environmental law and cases for the Benchbook for Philippine Trial Judges ; and Philippine Law and Ecology, the last two of which are compilations of laws, international instruments, legal cases, and commentary on the constellation of Philippine environmental policy and jurisprudence. He maintains a twice-weekly column, "Eagle Eyes", in the Manila Standard Today, and contributes to the Philippine social news site Rappler, where he comments on Philippine and international issues on the environment, socio-economic development, governance, and current affairs. He also maintains a column, "The Riverman's Vista" in the Mindanao current affairs news website MindaNews,.
Personal life
La Viña is married to Maria Carmen Bonto-La Viña, a psychotherapist. They have three sons.
