Protecting mountains

HAPPY WEEKEND

Gina Dizon

SAGADA, Mountain Province – Mountains are burning and people helplessly, passively look on. The attitude of people not to go out and put off mountain fires is pitiful and pathetic.

People are busy and have their own preoccupations while mountains are burning.  In this, town, some people say the Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources should put off forest fires because they don’t allow people from harvesting their trees.

People say putting off mountain fires is the job of the DENR and the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP). Personnel of the BFP and the DENR put off fires and feel frustrated people don’t help.  

Some say mountains are owned privately already so owners should put off fires. Whether the mountain is owned privately or communally, the mountains are burned and this affects diversity and people suffer.  This includes not only privately owned mountains in central Sagada but in the communal owned mountains of Aguid.  Burning mountains is indiscriminate.  

 Mountains get scorched black and ashy and the air smells of fire smog and ash fall floating on air. The air gets hotter.  Not only the trees but also coffee trees and other fruit trees for livelihood are burned.

Like here, the problem is attitudinal as mountains are burned intentionally.

People say there is need for new grass for cattle to feed on. But not all have cattle. Why not build private corals and let the cattle stay there and feed them? People should get zacate and feed cows and horses in their corals. This is better than burning the whole mountain for new grass.

People say burned mountains have mushrooms come rainy season. This is another reason for burning mountains.

Some say they burn mountains because these are not owned by the community but by a person. All lands in Sagada and even in Bauko are owned privately.

So people just drop their cigarette butts or leave kaingin debris burning till the whole mountain catches fire.

People suffer since there is no water and the air gets hotter due to burned plans and trees which hold water.

The attitude of caring for mountains is gone even if these store water

for domestic use and irrigation. Mountains are the source of lumber for housing and for rituals, for furniture.

Mountains need to be protected since these are sources of water and rich biodiversity of fauna and flora which include medicinal plants.

Life and communities suffer when mountains are burned.

The customary practice of putting off fire when a forest fire is ongoing is now gone. People have gone commercial from an agricultural livelihood so they don’t care anymore if mountains are burned.

Their sources of livelihood here include having inns, souvenir shops, weaving, carpentry, tourist guiding, restaurant keeping while others work in government or private offices.

In this rustic town, life was simpler then. Now, putting off forest fires need a coordinated system involving barangay-based anti-fire teams with the resource support of government and strong involvement of people.  

I came to know there will be a meeting among barangay chairmen with municipal mayors and government agencies particularly the DENR and the BFP and the government officials to be led by the provincial office to address the problem of forest fires.

Let us look forward to making systems work to made mountains greener with a collective attitude to care for nature, for life.