Environment dept has contradictory functions
Environment dept has contradictory functions
Posted 00:22am (Mla time) Mar 09, 2005
By Neal Cruz
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A14 of the March 9, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
THE FEW filthy rich loggers have won over the rest of the Filipino nation who want to save the remaining forests in the Philippines. Environment Secretary Michael Defensor has lifted the total log ban imposed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo last Dec. 8 after the floods and landslides that wiped off the face of the earth villages in Quezon, Aurora and Nueva Ecija and killed hundreds of people and rendered tens of thousands more homeless. The disasters were caused by rampant logging on the mountains, as did the flood that also buried Ormoc earlier. But the dead have been buried and the disasters are no longer on the front pages, so it is now safe for Defensor to allow logging again, with nary a whimper from the President who had imposed the total ban.
Besides, Defensor has no choice. The loggers and wood producers have been waging a campaign for the resumption of logging, and among their most ardent defenders and boosters is Surigao Rep. Prospero Pichay.
Who is Pichay? Why, he is the chair of the Commission on Appointments. And Defensor has not yet been confirmed by the CA. In fact, the two of them went together to the Caraga Region in Mindanao to lift the suspension of logging there and in Regions 9 (Davao provinces) and Region 11 (Zamboanga Peninsula). Some of the country's biggest loggers are in Surigao, Pichay's home province.
Defensor said he chose to allow logging in the three regions because "they enjoyed constant rainfall, which helps in the natural growth of forests." That is the environment secretary speaking. But any student will tell him that there is plenty of rainfall in tropical rainforests precisely because the forests are there. The trees give off plenty of oxygen, which rises to the sky and forms the clouds that condense into rain. Cut the trees and the rains will stop. So when logging is allowed in the three regions, there won't be "constant rainfall to help in the natural growth of forests." That is why denuded areas become semi-deserts. That is basic science.
There's another thing Defensor should know. In a photograph accompanying Monday's story on the lifting of the log ban, Defensor and reforestation czar Victor Corpus were shown loading seeds on a dispenser fitted on a Philippine Air Force helicopter in preparation for aerial seeding at the Angat watershed. What's wrong with that?
Well, it's the beginning of summer, which means this is the wrong time for seeding. The right time would be in late May, just before the rainy season. Every student also knows that, and therefore the environment secretary and reforestation czar also should. The rains will water the seeds and make them grow so that when the next dry season comes around, they will be big enough to withstand the heat and lack of water. Plant the seeds or seedling in summer and you only waste time, money and effort.
Defensor and Pichay, by the way, were invited to last Monday's Kapihan sa Manila media forum along with Rep. Juan Miguel Zubiri and Blas Tabaranza Jr. of Haribon, precisely to discuss the pros and cons of the log ban, but as I said, the two had to go to Mindanao to lift the log ban. The loggers were more important to them than explaining to the people why the suspension of logging is being lifted. Besides, it is difficult to defend that lifting against environmentalists Zubiri and Haribon.
Zubiri warned that because of the resumption of logging, more disasters would visit the Philippines. "Mark my words," he said, "when the heavy monsoon rains come in June and July, more villages will be devastated. Nature is already punishing us."
Tabaranza said that scientists all over the world consider the Philippines to be "on the verge of environmental collapse." In every international conference on the environment, delegates talk about the Philippines as a "hot spot," with about 190 species of birds on the verge of extinction. "We are in the top five disaster areas in the world," he added.
Tabaranza said Mindanao could no longer afford to lose its remaining forests. We have barely six million hectares of forests remaining all over the Philippines, which is long past the threshold of sustainability. "Regardless of their geographic or regional location, our remaining forests are in critical condition -- any further reduction can trigger major catastrophes," he said.
He said that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) failed to consider that these three regions "have many disaster prone areas." They also "hold 14 biodiversity areas (and) serve as the last frontiers of the Philippine eagle."
Instead of region-based logging, Haribon proposed:
1. A total ban on commercial logging nationwide.
2. Establishment of tree plantations to supply our domestic wood needs.
2. Vigorous reforestation to rehabilitate degraded watersheds.
3. Pursue a comprehensive land use program to determine possible timber production areas outside of the natural forests.
4. That the DENR stops being a mere regulatory agency and become a developmental one by catalyzing stakeholders, including LGUs, in forest conservation.
I think the original sin was combining "environment" and "natural resources" in one agency. The two have contradictory purposes: one protects the environment while the other exploits natural resources. The DENR has a split personality, a Jekyll-and-Hyde personality. Like the United States, we should have an Environment Protection Agency under the Office of the President whose main duty is to protect and preserve the environment.
Posted 00:22am (Mla time) Mar 09, 2005
By Neal Cruz
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A14 of the March 9, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
THE FEW filthy rich loggers have won over the rest of the Filipino nation who want to save the remaining forests in the Philippines. Environment Secretary Michael Defensor has lifted the total log ban imposed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo last Dec. 8 after the floods and landslides that wiped off the face of the earth villages in Quezon, Aurora and Nueva Ecija and killed hundreds of people and rendered tens of thousands more homeless. The disasters were caused by rampant logging on the mountains, as did the flood that also buried Ormoc earlier. But the dead have been buried and the disasters are no longer on the front pages, so it is now safe for Defensor to allow logging again, with nary a whimper from the President who had imposed the total ban.
Besides, Defensor has no choice. The loggers and wood producers have been waging a campaign for the resumption of logging, and among their most ardent defenders and boosters is Surigao Rep. Prospero Pichay.
Who is Pichay? Why, he is the chair of the Commission on Appointments. And Defensor has not yet been confirmed by the CA. In fact, the two of them went together to the Caraga Region in Mindanao to lift the suspension of logging there and in Regions 9 (Davao provinces) and Region 11 (Zamboanga Peninsula). Some of the country's biggest loggers are in Surigao, Pichay's home province.
Defensor said he chose to allow logging in the three regions because "they enjoyed constant rainfall, which helps in the natural growth of forests." That is the environment secretary speaking. But any student will tell him that there is plenty of rainfall in tropical rainforests precisely because the forests are there. The trees give off plenty of oxygen, which rises to the sky and forms the clouds that condense into rain. Cut the trees and the rains will stop. So when logging is allowed in the three regions, there won't be "constant rainfall to help in the natural growth of forests." That is why denuded areas become semi-deserts. That is basic science.
There's another thing Defensor should know. In a photograph accompanying Monday's story on the lifting of the log ban, Defensor and reforestation czar Victor Corpus were shown loading seeds on a dispenser fitted on a Philippine Air Force helicopter in preparation for aerial seeding at the Angat watershed. What's wrong with that?
Well, it's the beginning of summer, which means this is the wrong time for seeding. The right time would be in late May, just before the rainy season. Every student also knows that, and therefore the environment secretary and reforestation czar also should. The rains will water the seeds and make them grow so that when the next dry season comes around, they will be big enough to withstand the heat and lack of water. Plant the seeds or seedling in summer and you only waste time, money and effort.
Defensor and Pichay, by the way, were invited to last Monday's Kapihan sa Manila media forum along with Rep. Juan Miguel Zubiri and Blas Tabaranza Jr. of Haribon, precisely to discuss the pros and cons of the log ban, but as I said, the two had to go to Mindanao to lift the log ban. The loggers were more important to them than explaining to the people why the suspension of logging is being lifted. Besides, it is difficult to defend that lifting against environmentalists Zubiri and Haribon.
Zubiri warned that because of the resumption of logging, more disasters would visit the Philippines. "Mark my words," he said, "when the heavy monsoon rains come in June and July, more villages will be devastated. Nature is already punishing us."
Tabaranza said that scientists all over the world consider the Philippines to be "on the verge of environmental collapse." In every international conference on the environment, delegates talk about the Philippines as a "hot spot," with about 190 species of birds on the verge of extinction. "We are in the top five disaster areas in the world," he added.
Tabaranza said Mindanao could no longer afford to lose its remaining forests. We have barely six million hectares of forests remaining all over the Philippines, which is long past the threshold of sustainability. "Regardless of their geographic or regional location, our remaining forests are in critical condition -- any further reduction can trigger major catastrophes," he said.
He said that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) failed to consider that these three regions "have many disaster prone areas." They also "hold 14 biodiversity areas (and) serve as the last frontiers of the Philippine eagle."
Instead of region-based logging, Haribon proposed:
1. A total ban on commercial logging nationwide.
2. Establishment of tree plantations to supply our domestic wood needs.
2. Vigorous reforestation to rehabilitate degraded watersheds.
3. Pursue a comprehensive land use program to determine possible timber production areas outside of the natural forests.
4. That the DENR stops being a mere regulatory agency and become a developmental one by catalyzing stakeholders, including LGUs, in forest conservation.
I think the original sin was combining "environment" and "natural resources" in one agency. The two have contradictory purposes: one protects the environment while the other exploits natural resources. The DENR has a split personality, a Jekyll-and-Hyde personality. Like the United States, we should have an Environment Protection Agency under the Office of the President whose main duty is to protect and preserve the environment.
posted by Dante at 12:22 AM
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