Condition-of-the-philippine-environment

[GLT]

http://philprodemocracy.wordpress.com/2010/06/10/the-condition-of-the-philippine-environment/


The Condition of the Philippine Environment
by: Dr. John O. Teope
The Republic of the Philippines is an archipelago of some 7,100
islands and islets, majestic in their splendor. The numerous islands
support a broad range of highly productive ecosystems, tropical
forests and mountains, mangrove swamps and coral reefs.
Ours is a developing country with a population of almost 85 million
Filipinos. The Philippines is a paradise for those who love the sun,
beach, surfing and the exotic life at a very low cost. But even in
paradise, we endure problems caused by a high incidence of poverty, by
industrial expansion, and by rapid population growth. There is
considerable abuse of our natural resources — the destruction of coral
reefs, poison and dynamite fishing, slash and burn farming on our
mountains, and the pollution of our lakes and rivers. We have been
involved in the effort to diminish four major problems of the
Philippine environment, the problems of deforestation, air pollution,
water pollution, urban waste and garbage.
Deforestation.
At the start of the 20th century the forested area of the Philippines
was some 21 million hectares or almost 70 percent of the country’s
total land area of 30 million hectares. Today our remaining forest
cover is below one million hectares. Moreover, on the average, our
rate of deforestation was 203,905 hectares annually while our rate of
reforestation was only 9,398 hectares. This means that for every tree
planted, 21 are cut down. The effects of deforestation have been
tragic and devastating. Some 6.5 million tribal Filipinos have lost
rich hunting and inland fishing grounds. Species of flora and fauna
have been lost forever. Biological diversity has been greatly
diminished and there are periodic erosion and floods everywhere.
We responded to this problem in two ways. One was a proposed
legislation which will ban commercial logging for 25 years, and this
legislation is now being carefully deliberated. Our second response
was to introduce “Luntiang Pilipinas” or Greening the Philippines
Movement. The goal of this movement is to create a tree park in every
city and town plaza with at least 100 trees of forest varieties. Each
tree park serves as “lungs” of the community, beautifying the plaza
and raising community consciousness about the environment at the same
time. The movement has created forest parks in over 1,800 towns and
cities, and the number is rising each month.
Smog and Air Pollution
High levels of industrial emission and the increasing number of motor
vehicles on our roads have seriously degraded air quality in urban
areas. The consequences are rising levels of respiratory and lung
ailments in our population, fatigue and poor concentration among
adults, and nervous disorders in children.
Our response was the sponsorship of legislation which became the
Philippine Clean Air Act of 1998. Among other things, this law
provides an air quality management fund, imposes new vehicle emission
standards, and provides incentives for pollution abatement and
prevention.
Water Pollution.
Forty-eight percent of our water pollution is caused by household
wastes, compounded by the lack of an adequate sewerage system. At
present, only 7 percent of the settlers in Metro Manila are connected
to a sewer system. Sixteen of the Philippines’ major rivers, including
five in Metro Manila, are biologically dead during the summer months.
The World Bank estimates that in the Philippines, the economic losses
caused by water pollution are about $1.3 billion or P62 billion per
year.
In this regard, we came up with the Water Crisis Act of 1995 that
stipulated the creation of a commission to undertake nationwide
consultations on water crisis and recommend measures that will ensure
continuous monitoring of water supply and distribution.
As of 2003, 86% of the total population has access to an improved
water source, with 79% and 91% access in urban and rural areas,
respectively. Citing the World Bank Philippines Environment Monitor
2004, access to sanitation is rising slowly and urban access to piped
sewerage in Metro Manila is about 8%.
Waste and Garbage.
Solid waste disposal remains problematic with only 9 of 117 cities and
46 of 1,500 municipalities in the Philippines have solid management
programs. In Metropolitan Manila, where some 15 million people work
and live, some 6,000 tons of garbage is generated daily. An estimated
24 percent is illegally dumped in vacant lands or thrown into our
rivers or waterways. This exacerbates the flooding of streets during
the rainy season and the poor sanitation conditions of many
communities. In addition, the capacity of garbage landfills has long
been exceeded, and there is a need to develop new landfill sites. The
annual waste generation is expected to grow by 40% by 2010.
Our response was to author a bill which was enacted as the Integrated
Solid Waste Management Act of 2001, the first legislation signed into
law by our present President, Her Excellency Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
This law created a structure to provide technology, research,
organization and facilities to alleviate the waste problem and reduce
health hazards.
The Philippine Agenda 21
Philippine Agenda 21 is part of the country’s response to fulfill its
commitments in the historic Earth Summit in 1992, where government and
key sectors of society agreed to implement an action agenda for
sustainable development, known as the Agenda 21.
The Philippine Agenda 21′s concept of development is grounded on both
an image and a shared vision of the Filipino society. It recognizes
the key actors in sustainable development as the government, business
and civil society and the functional differentiation of modern society
into three realms–economy (where the key actor is business), polity
(where the key actor is government) and culture (where the key actor
is civil society). The three realms are interacting, dynamic and
complementary components of an integral whole.
Philippine Agenda 21 advocates a fundamental shift in development
thinking and approach. It departs from traditional conceptual
frameworks that emphasize sector based and macro-concerns.
Philippine Agenda 21 promotes harmony and achieves sustainability by
emphasizing:
• a scale of intervention that is primarily area-based; the national
and global policy environment builds upon and support area-based
initiatives;
• integrated island development approaches where applicable; this
recognizes the archipelagic character of the Philippines which
includes many small island provinces;
• people and the integrity of nature at the center of development
initiatives; this implies the strengthening of roles, relationships
and interactions between stakeholders in government, civil society,
labor and business; basic sectors have an important role to play in
achieving equity and in managing the ecosystems that sustain life.
Philippine Agenda 21 does not duplicate but builds on existing and
ongoing initiatives related to sustainable development. Hence,
sustainable development in the Philippines is the accumulation of
conceptual and operational breakthroughs generated by the Philippine
Strategy for Sustainable Development, Social Reform Agenda, Human and
Ecological Security, among others. Sustainable development is also a
product of the process itself, of engaging various stakeholders and of
working in global national and local arenas.
The persistence of serious natural resource depletion and
environmental degradation years into the Philippine Agenda 21 means
that much remains to be done. The continuing problems are not just due
to the delay of the program but due to the fact that environmental
problems are resilient and take time to contain. Our government can
more effectively implement Philippine Agenda 21 by way of addressing
the various issues still at hand.

PHILIPPINE PRO-DEMOCRACY MOVEMENT