ENVIRONMENTAL UPDATE

Paying tribute to Mother Earth
MAURICE MALANES and DEXTER SEE

BAGUIO CITY – Igorot and Japanese artists have embarked on cultural and educational activities as their way of paying tribute to their common mother – Mother Earth. The series of activities began last December 1 with environmental lectures, concerts and stage plays at the Baguio Convention Center. The activities are part of the December 1-15 Cordillera Youth Eco Summit organized by the Cordillera Green Network (CGN), an environmental group based here, and the Japan-based Kiyosato Educational Experiment Project or KEEP.

The performing Igorot and Japanese artists, who first performed at the Convention Center here, traveled to the provinces of Abra and Ifugao to hold workshops and to perform there. Japanese artists from Play Back Theatre Rashinban, a Japanese theatre group that seeks to promote better relationships and understanding through dialogue, and from Kuri, an instrumental duet, will hold "An Impromptu Workshop for Living with Nature" at 1 p.m. on Dec. 9 at the Victor Oteyza Community Art Space (VOCAS) atop the La Azotea Building in Baguio's Session.

Kuri and Cordillera musician Arnel Banasan will also perform in what is dubbed as "The Planet Love Concert" at 7 p.m. on Dec. 15 also at VOCAS. Admission to the workshop and concert is free.

Funded by the Japan Fund for Global Environment and Japan Foundation and in collaboration with the Masa Ecological Development Inc., Maryknoll Ecological Sanctuary, and VOCAS, the series of activities organized by CGN and KEEP brought together Igorot and Japanese artists who sought to use their talents in raising awareness on how to protect an already-fragile planet.

The visiting Japanese artists include Tomokazu Haneji, founder of Playback Theatre; Hanako Ohta, Playback Theatre member and trainer for other actors; Kenji Imanishi, a musician and actor; and Misaho Imai, a free stage actress and self-expression workshop facilitator. The Kuri instrumental duet are husband and wife Katsu and Miho.

Also gracing the 15-day Cordillera Youth Eco Summit are Minato Syusaku, Ph.D., director of the Kiyosato Educational Experiment Project (KEEP), and Takao Okemoto, KEEP chief operating officer.

"My visit to the Cordilleras for the last 20 years has helped develop my character and taught me to think more positively," said Okemoto.
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LA TRINIDAD, Benguet — Former agriculture secretary William Dar urged local government units in the Cordillera to give priority to integrated watershed management to prevent what he called "an alarming trend of land degradation" that could result in water scarcity and loss of biodiversity in the future.

Dar, who is at present director-general of the International Crop Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics based in India, said that it is not too late in the day to turn things around and prevent the displacement of people in agricultural areas.

The first Filipino to occupy the top ICRISAT post and the chairman of the committee on science and technology of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, Dar said that the key lies in a combination of good agronomy practices and integrated watershed management.

This prevents the erosion of top soil which is considered a major phenomenon that is traced to the opening of vast tracks of lands in the mountains to vegetable gardening. Dar cited the urgent need to plant soil- and water-conservation plants such as pigeon peas, locally known as "kardis," as part of good agronomy practices.

Moreover, he said, while the concerned national government agencies have the technology, it is still up to the local government units to tap this innovation and focus their efforts on promoting sustainable development. Thus, there is a need for a proactive approach to the eminent threat of climate change and desertification, he also said.

It was learned that the sudden loss of biodiversity in a certain area, coupled with the loss of soil cover, signals the start of desertification. The serious effects of desertification include lack of water to sustain life with 70 percent of the rainfall wasted, he said.

Dar recommended that local government units invest in the establishment of medium-sized water-impounding dams to trap rainwater which, in turn, maintain and sustain aquifers.

He challenged government colleges and universities in the region to work with local government units in terms of advocacy and in providing the needed technologies to implement "a sincere and sustainable watershed management program in the Cordillera, which is considered as the watershed cradle of Northern Luzon.

He said that the government-run institutions could help in undertaking research as well as in influencing the formulation of policy through advocacy for the preservation and protection of the environment. Earlier, foreign and local biologists had found that the flora and fauna of the Cordillera forests have been rapidly disappearing, saying this could be restored through community participation.