ENVIRONMENT WATCH

In defense of environment
Luis Jose

QUEZON CITY -- Environment activists recently formed a human chain in front of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources here to protest what they called the continuous destruction and degradation of the country’s environment.

Clemente Bautista, national coordinator of Kalikasan-People’s Network for the Environment, said environmental ruin continues, as global warming, urban pollution, drought, flashfloods and landslides directly affect the lives, health and livelihood of the people.

“Earth Day is a day for our environment, patrimony, and most especially for the brave people of our land, who struggle to protect it from narrow, senseless and profit-making objectives. Indigenous people, fisherfolk, peasants, workers and professionals are becoming more aware of the root causes of the environmental crisis that we have,” he said.

The administration failed to implement proper mitigation and adaptation to address global warming and natural disasters, he added. Bautista said seven major environmental disasters happened in the country during the eight years of the Arroyo administration.

These are the 2001 Camiguin flashflood, 2003 Southern Leyte landslide, 2004 Aurora-Quezon landslide, 2005 Semirara oil spill, 2006 St. Bernard landslide, Guimaras oil spill, and Bicol mudslide, he added.

Bautista said these tragedies alone have claimed almost 5,000 lives and caused damage to property and livelihood amounting to more than P15 billion.

“These made the Arroyo administration one of the most disaster prone administrations,” he said. The 2006 Guimaras oil spill was the worst in Philippine history, while the Aurora-Quezon flashflood was one of the most devastating environmental tragedies, Bautista said.

Trixie Concepcion of anti-mining group Defend Patrimony said these disasters are brought about by the failure of the government to properly manage our environment and natural resources. “Its economic policies in mining and logging is oriented towards the extraction and commodification of our natural resources to serve as raw materials for export,” she said.

Concepcion said as of last year, the administration approved 359 mineral agreements covering 514,949 hectares of land that are mostly located in forests and mountains. The unbridled extraction of the country’s mineral resources by private and foreign mining corporations has sped up deforestation and soil erosion, she added.

Frances Quimpo, Center for Environmental Concerns-Philippines (CEC-Phils) executive director, said deforestation is one of the major causes of landslide and flashflood in the Philippines.

“The Arroyo administration even tried to hide the sorry state of our forest to cover up its failure to arrest deforestation and rehabilitate our forest,” she said.

Quoting records from the DENR’s Forest Management Bureau (FMB), Bautista said in 2002, the country’s forests have dwindled to 4.7 million hectares or around 16 percent of the total land area.

“The environmental crisis and disasters are brought about by the present economic and political situation in the country which is further worsened by the globalization policy of the government,” he said.

Based on data from CEC-Phils, out of the 154 priority watershed areas designated by DENR, 124 are deemed in critical state. However, in 2003 the FMB said the country’s forest cover increased to seven million hectares.