 |
| By ThomJ & Mikka R |
The President said there's an emerging economic tiger in Asia.
On
July 22, the President spoke of many things about the developments and
achievements he brought to the country. He also spoke of how the people trusted
him in his crusade for nine of the top ten
senators are individuals that he recommended. And he spoke of coconut trees, no
other tree, but only the coconut tree and the opportunities they hold for income
increase through intercropping.
This is where things get suspicious for the President. His
spinmeisters created a glossy picture of the Philippines, but behind the
throngs of Juan de la Cruzes are buildings, harrowing dark smog and maybe a
coconut tree. Maybe. There is no mention of the word environment or nature in
the rundown of his achievements, when we may be nearing the breaking point of
Mother Nature.
According to the Center for Environmental Concerns–Philippines,
the deforestation in the country is at such a disturbing rate that the “vast
and rich forests covering around 70% of the Philippines' land area in the early
1900’s have been nearly wiped out in merely one hundred years.”
Such circumstance be traced to the historical accounts of the
country. The Spaniards ordered to cutting of trees for streets, bridges and
ships and forests are cleared for haciendas. Americans introduced large-scale,
export oriented mining. During the Marcos regime, forests were put under the
control of foreign companies and local elite.
We could count the area of lost forest but we can never
account to how much of a degree such actions affect us and those of the future
generation. The environment is vital in the development and continuation of
living organisms in an eco-system.
According to the World Commission on Environment and Development defines
sustainable development as "development that meets the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."
In such scheme, there is a need to balance three development
factors: social, economic and environment. With emphasis on Public - Private
Partnership, economy is superior and with the lack of laws for the protection
of the nature, environment is lagging far behind.
CECP added that the loss of our forests are under threat of
degradation particularly from large-scale mining and commercial logging. A
total of 1,136,959 hectares of land is under mining concessions and another
1,422,190 hectares under logging concessions.
For Aquino, the answer to deforestation is Executive Order 23
which declared a moratorium on the
cutting and harvesting of timber in the natural and residual forests and
creation of an anti-illegal logging task force. Then, DENR issued Memorandum Order
No.52 which suspended the issuance of new logging contracts.
However loopholes are aplenty is the solution. EO 23 only
stops DENR from granting new contracts while reviewing existing contracts. It
does not however curtail plantation logging. It is a loophole prone to
corruption when companies declare natural and residual forests as plantation
forest.
At such rates of depletion, innumerable flora and fauna are
at danger. We also need to take into account the role of such organisms in the
balance of nature. Among the countries of the world, Philippines is one of the
biodiversity hubs, and responsible forest stewardship are far too important to
continue the survival of such biodiversity.
There is an immediate need for a more responsible and
proactive citizenry and government. The environment is capable of recovering by
itself if left alone. How about us? |
| Sherwin Gabrinez |
No comments:
Post a Comment