“The banner headlines of newspapers absorb our attention so much so that we tend to overlook a more deep-seated crisis – all the living systems on land and in the sea around us are being ruthlessly exploited.”
Thus, said the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) in its pastoral letter in 1988. Today, 28 years later after the letter caught the attention of every Filipinos, nothing much has changed.
The exploitation continues unabated. “It is impossible to exaggerate the ecological crisis threatening the Philippines,” warned science journalist Alan Robles in 1991.
In 1996, the Environmental Management Bureau in its introduction of the Philippine Environment Quality Report, pointed the importance of the country’s natural resources: “The environment, one of its most precious capitals, should not be squandered away on short-term concerns but carefully managed for the benefit even of the unborn generation.”
Let’s take a closer look:
Forests: In 1972, the country had about 10.4 million hectares of natural forests, which covered 34% of the country’s total land area of 30 million hectares. Today, this has been reduced to 6.16 million hectares, or approximately 20.52% of the total land area. At least 163,000 hectares of forest cover are lost every year.
The destruction of forests has contributed to the depletion of food resources. “In modern times, it is unusual for people to get much food directly from forests, but most rural people still depend on forest foods to supplement their regular diets,” wrote Patrick Durst, regional forestry officer of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.
Wildlife species: The Philippine archipelago has evolved into one of the world’s richest depositories of biological diversity. There are about 950 species and subspecies of birds, 233 species and subspecies of mammals, more than 240 species of reptiles, and 6,000 species of wild plants living in the country.
“Wildlife habitat loss in the Philippines is about 79%,” reports the Green Forum-Philippines some years back. Already, eight species of fauna (including the Philippine eagle and tamaraw, both endemic) are included in the list of either rare or endangered, while 40% of total endemic flora are reported to be going extinct.
“A few decades ago, the wildlife of the Philippines was notable for its abundance; now, it is notable for its variety; if present trend of destruction continues, Philippine wildlife will be notable for its absence,” deplored Dr. Lee Talbot, a well-known ecologist and geographer.
Lands: Lands, particularly those that produce crops, are extremely important resources. But they are vulnerable to a host of pressures including erosion. The hilly agricultural lands, which comprise 30% of the country’s land area, under cultivation have reportedly lost about two-thirds of their valuable topsoil.
“When soils are depleted and crops are poorly nourished, people are often undernourished as well,” wrote Lester R. Brown, former head of the Worldwatch Institute. “Failure to respond to the erosion threat will lead not only to the degradation of land, but to the degradation of life itself.”
Harold R. Watson, who received the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1985 for trying to help stop erosion in the uplands, decried: “Soil erosion is an enemy to any nation – far worse than any outside enemy coming into a country and conquering it because it is an enemy you cannot seed vividly. It’s a slow creeping enemy that soon possesses the land.”
Water: The country’s water resources are derived from rainfall, rivers, lakes, springs and grounds. The average annual rainfall is about 2,500 millimeters. A person needs at least 24 liters of water daily or one liter per hour.
“The rapid urbanization of the Philippines, with more than 2 million being added to the urban population annually, is having a major impact on water resources,” notes the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in its Asian Water Development Outlook 2007.
Coral reefs: Some years back, leading marine scientists ranked the coral reefs in the Philippines as among the most threatened in Southeast Asia. Among those listed as culprits were overfishing, destructive fishing, sedimentation, and pollution.
The Inventory of the Coral Resources of the Philippines in the 1970s found only about 5% of the reefs to be in excellent condition, with over 75% coral cover (both hard and soft).
In the Philippines, destruction of coral reefs means disaster. “Coral reefs are home to thousands of marine species, and losing them will spell disaster for our ecosystems, not to mention the thousands of Filipinos who depend on them for food and as sources of livelihood,” reminds Senator Loren Legarda, Chair of the Senate Committee on Climate Change.
“So, how’s everything,” asked Douglas C. Crispino in the opening of this short piece entitled The Black Moor.
“I don’t know the answer and neither do you,” wrote Chris Bright, a research associate at the Washington-based Worldwatch Institute, “but together we can probably find one.”
“Pressures on the environment are the result of the individual choices that millions of people about the way they lead their lives, the demands they make on resources, and the waste they generate,” pointed out John Gummer, an environment official from the United Kingdom.
“Environmental protection and enhancement is therefore more a matter of changing lifestyles than making declarations or passing laws,” Gummer added.
Campaigns also play a big part. Or so Tore J. Brevik, of the United Nations Environment Program, believes. “Education and public awareness,” he said, “are absolutely fundamental to achieving a sustainable future.”
To which, Mahatma Mohandas Gandhi dismissed, “There is sufficiency for man’s need, but not for man’s greed.”
When he was still writing a column for Philippine Daily Inquirer, the widely-read Conrado de Quiros wrote: “The end of the world won’t come from a falling asteroid or a raging virus. It will come, as most of the world’s tragedies have come, by human hand.”
Are you listening!
