THE MOUNTAINEER

Pining for trees
Edison L. Baddal

In the backdrop of the auspicious month of June which has been given the appellation as an Environment Month, the Arbor Day was celebrated on the 25th on the heels of the celebration of the World Environment Day earlier on June 5.

The celebrations all point out the importance of trees. As implied in the term “arbor,” the main activity that was conducted by multifarious stakeholders during the occasion was tree planting. This celebration, which was sanctioned by an executive fiat, became a yearly observation so as to drum up awareness on the need to maintain remaining preserves of trees in our watersheds in the bowels of Mother Earth.

With current threats of denudation on our thinning forest cover caused by rapacious human greed, the necessity and encompassing role of trees in the sustenance of life, ecological balance and the preservation of biodiversity and the ecosystem need not be emphasized.

Right in our milieu, proof of the predominant presence of trees in the utilitarian and material aspect of our daily life abounds. List of by-products from trees are innumerable to rattle off which counts among others the wood panels of the interior of our homes, the built-in cupboards and cabinets.

But perhaps the most significant function of trees in the ecosystem is its direct link with the biological or physiological process in the humans. This is on the respiratory system/process. It is basic knowledge that trees (and the whole plant kingdom for that matter) takes in CO2 spewed by humans and convert it into oxygen for human use.

Its impact then on the sustenance of human existence itself is beyond measure. It is thus that more trees signify fresh regular supply of oxygen. In contrast, in urbanized areas in which the prevailing component is concrete structures, people are deprived of a fresh supply of oxygen. By all accounts, the sordid lack thereof in the immediate environs of cities is part and parcel of its urban blight and decay.

It likewise absorbs other toxic gases into its bosom like carbon monoxide emitted by vehicles aside from those emitted by ubiquitous gadgets like refrigerators, aerosol sprays, air conditioners and others. It helps mitigate also the pernicious effects of exhaust fumes belched out by vehicles and industrial/manufacturing plants.

But right now, with thick vegetative and forest covers having been decimated by illegal and legal logging, global warming is in our midst. This abnormal weather phenomenon which is characterized by abrupt changes in the earth’s weather system is caused by the trapping of fumes and toxic gases in the troposphere. The increase in the trapped fumes creates an arc which projects like an umbrella-like canopy over the earth’s atmosphere.

With the exit of toxic gases to higher atmospheric regions for eventual dissipation blocked, they circulate around the globe. Hence, thanks to global warming, we have hotter summers than usual and mildly cold December mornings in lieu of the chilly and crisp ones which invigorated our spirits in the past. Furthermore, the ambient air quality over populated areas, more so in the cities, has been degraded more with Baguio not spared. As a result, the status of Baguio as a Hall of Famer in the Clean and Green Awards for three consecutive years in the mid-nineties was downgraded.
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For Mountain Province, it is heartening to note that things are not as bad in terms of
depredations of the watershed areas is concerned. Nevertheless, it is still pockmarked
by unscrupulous environmental activities which gives a black eye to the over-all situation
thereof.

This hack’s informal talks with PENRO Osbucan of DENR-MP revealed that at present the province enjoys a manageable vegetative/ forest cover. At most, 50 percent of the total land area of the province is comprised of forested areas. He intimated that this could have been higher if not for the conversion of many forestlands into agricultural lands and settlement areas although the incumbent governor’s “one million tree campaign helped in no small way in boosting the forest cover of the province. This is because many grasslands were converted into tree belts on account of it.

He related that in western Mt. Province, the “batangan system” of managing watersheds helped preserve many remaining watershed areas. The batangan system, according to him, is an age-old indigenous system of managing watersheds which includes regulation in the utilization and disposition of forest resources.

By all accounts, it has been proven to be an effective way in managing watersheds based on past experiences of the old fogeys. He assumed that the no-nonsense application of the principles of the Batangan System in many affected communities helped in staving off innumerable threats of encroachments into the remaining watersheds of the province. He deplored, though, that
in some parts of Eastern Mt. Province, environmental degradations like slash-and-burn farming and nefarious activities contributed to the substantial decimation of their forest covers.

Nevertheless, thick, mossy rainforests still exist in the town of Barlig, which is being promoted
and trumpeted as the “Shangrila on the edge.” He explained that in its operational framework, the dynamics of “Batangan” eco-management paradigm in western Mt. Province is akin
to that of the “muyong system” of the Ifugaos.

One instance which unmistakably dealt a black eye on the effectivity of the batangan system
was the recalcitrance of informal settlers against any policy or law resulting to the degradation
of the Mt. Data National Park into veritable farmlands and settlement areas.

Proclaimed as a national park due to its thick vegetative cover in the 1930’s, it has virtually
lost its historical significance with the massive foray of settlers therein since time immemorial. On account of it, the PAMB which has been organized under the NIPAS Act to monitor and regulate encroachments thereabouts, strongly recommended to the DENR central office some years ago the disestablishment of the area as a national park.

In the petition, they stated that it is better that the park be reverted to its former status
as a forestland. Their plan is that once reverted, they could work for its conversion into a NIPAS (National Integrated Protected Area Systems) area. Its conversion into a NIPAS will make it a protected area of the DENR and thus more secure against encroachers.

But up to now, the petition remained unacted. Needless to say, at this point, fast and decisive
actions are the marching orders for the day for all stakeholders to save the remaining forest
cover of the park from encroachment especially that it is the headwater of
five river systems in the Cordillera.

Meanwhile, Osbucan rationalized that conflicting definitions by the Departments of Agriculture and Natural Resources on what land should be considered as watershed or agricultural is one cogent reason for the rash and the gall of people to carve farmlands out of forestlands.

Somehow, these contrasting definitions create conflicts in the policies of the two agencies. Eventually, it forestalls well-meaning development programs of each agency from taking off. He desires that the top brass of each agency should sit down together to thresh out the irritants and kinks in each other’s programs.
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Anyway, it is worthwhile to mention that trees not only gives off fresh supply of oxygen for respiration but that it is also the source of potable water. Trees generate water for aquifers
which is that portion of the ground’s subsurface from which water is tapped.

For this, my heart bleeds for Ambiong watershed in Baguio. Not a few months ago when I paid a visit to someone in the A and D portion of the watershed, I was baffled to see tall and imposing buildings erected in the vicinity of the water tank.

Said tank is the main source of water supply to Baguio residents. In the decade of the ‘80s when I first ventured into the area, mature and majestic pine trees dotted the area. Now, tall structures dot the area in lieu of trees. It’s dismaying to observe that the officialdom of Baguio seemed to have been whipped into submission by the intransigent settlers. Adding insult to injury, are the huge buildings in the area some of which are utilized as boarding houses. The aquifers might have been contaminated with muck.

I have long realized that trees counts as the constant variable in the basic elements ( air and water) of life on earth. It is basically involved in the equation of sustaining life itself.

That explains my fascination with trees be they in the groves, parks, greenbelts, shaded walkways, especially in the arbor. And I pine that more trees be planted in every available nook and cranny whether it is Arbor Day or not. Thus, I become cloyingly romantic whenever I lilt that old tune that relates with trees in an arbor which goes:“ Under the spreading
chestnut tree/ With my wifey on my knee/ Oh! How happy I shall be/ Under the spreading chestnut tree.”