diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
index 058e137fd..34438edc4 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 * 1.7.0 (2012-XX-XX)
 
+ * fixed usage of Z_ADDREF_P for PHP 5.2 in the C extension
  * fixed compilation of numeric values used in templates when using a locale where the decimal separator is not a dot
  * made the strategy used to guess the real template file name and line number in exception messages much faster and more accurate
 
diff --git a/ext/twig/twig.c b/ext/twig/twig.c
index 92b089319..880b96445 100644
--- a/ext/twig/twig.c
+++ b/ext/twig/twig.c
@@ -27,6 +27,10 @@
 #include "Zend/zend_interfaces.h"
 #include "Zend/zend_exceptions.h"
 
+#ifndef Z_ADDREF_P
+#define Z_ADDREF_P(pz)                (pz)->refcount++
+#endif
+
 ZEND_BEGIN_ARG_INFO_EX(twig_template_get_attribute_args, ZEND_SEND_BY_VAL, ZEND_RETURN_VALUE, 6)
 	ZEND_ARG_INFO(0, template)
 	ZEND_ARG_INFO(0, object)