(Adds more comment, regional background)

MANILA, Jan 14 (Reuters) - The Philippine Supreme Court will designate special courts to speed up a backlog of environmental cases and ensure polluters are penalised for breaking the law, a spokesman confirmed on Monday.

Manila's decision came as experts from the Asia-Pacific region began a conference in Bangkok aimed at improving enforcement of environment laws.

Illegal mining, logging and overfishing are serious problems in the Philippines but few violators are punished either because they pay off officials or because overworked judges tend to prioritise civil and criminal cases over environmental disputes.

"We want to come out with decisions so that we can set an example that environmental cases are really being prioritised and so we can enforce these environmental laws properly," said Jose Midas Marquez, the chief justice's head of staff.

"It seems that many of the violators don't really care because no one gets penalised. If we have cases clearly penalising violators this might serve as a wake-up call."

Water pollution, poor sanitation and air pollution cost the Philippines around 14 billion pesos ($350 million) a year, according to a recent study by the World Bank.

Antonio Oposa Jr., an environmental lawyer who has fought several high-profile lawsuits, hoped the new courts would trigger more cases against polluters and raise awareness of environmental laws in his country.

Only one percent of environmental laws were enforced in the Philippines, he said, blaming ignorance or a lack of political will to enforce them.

"Many of these local governments are hardly aware of these laws," he told reporters on the first day of a U.N.-sponsored environmental conference in Bangkok.

Some 80 judges, prosecutors and legal experts from 40 Asia-Pacific nations are attending the three-day "Greening the Bench" conference, which aims to boost enforcement of environmental laws in the region.

Environmental courts and tribunals have been established across the region, including Australia, Bangladesh, New Zealand, Thailand, Pakistan and India.

But they do little good if laws are not enforced, experts say.

India has more than 200 environmental laws on the books, "but compliance is not there," environmental lawyer M.C. Mehta said.

"There is no enforcement. It is an appeasement policy towards the polluters," he said, adding that India's push for economic growth often came at the expense of the environment.

India has set up an environmental tribunal, "but it is totally headless in the sense that there is no judge heading it," Mehta said, adding the job offered fewer perks and less independence than other judicial positions.

In Thailand, more than 1,000 environmental cases have been brought to "green" benches since they were set up in 2004, but most of those cases are still winding through the system.

In Manila, Marquez said about 150 courts would be designated as environmental courts within the next two weeks and guidelines for hearing the cases would then be issued. Judges would have to attend training seminars. ($1 = 40.585 pesos) (Reporting by Carmel Crimmins; Additional reporting by Darren Schuettler in Bangkok; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

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