Slowly but Surely
Those brown spots on mountains as viewed aerial are now slowly turning green. Through protection and strict regulations, the world’ forest deforestation is now moving slowly as its recovery speeds up. But what about in the Philippine scale? According to Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the world's forests continue to shrink as populations increase and forest land is converted to agriculture and other uses. But over the past 25 years, the rate of net global deforestation has slowed down by more than 50 percent.
The data also said that the biggest forest loss has been in in tropical regions particularly in Africa and South America. In line with this positive news, the environmental setting in the Philippines is still lacking in terms of protection and awareness.
Yes, there are governing laws and acts to support and protect natural resources from environmental crimes but proper implementations and good governance are needed to able to pull this emerging problems down. With Gina Lopez as the new Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) secretary, we Filipinos must be proud of what she plans ahead for our environment. On her first day in the office, she pointed out the importance of “responsible mining” and presented data that showed that the poorest areas in the Philippines are areas with active mining activities.
As our world modernize, the most affected part would be our natural resources. Conversion of land masses for agricultural and habitual purposes, burning of forest for industrialization, clear cutting of green areas for pastures are just some of the reasons why forest nowadays are as muddy as the soil used for making pots and vases and dry as good as dead. On a report concerning the Brazilian Amazon, the data shows how the Amazon was used for the country’s economic growth. In year 2001-2004, more than 25,000 sq. km was deforested as the economy of Brazil rises. But as of last year, the areas deforested in the Amazon low down to 5,000 sq. km more or less. As for the Philippinine mining, Sec. Lopez cleared that she was not against mining industry, she was against the suffering of communities because of mining. She is also planning to change the current Philippine Mining Act as she said an ‘unfair law’ that is crooked toward mining sector not to the communities. Early to experience her wrath were the three mining firms: Benguet Corp Nickel Mines Inc., Zambales Diversified Metals Corp., LNL Archipelago Minerals Inc. and Eramen Minerals Inc. that has been suspended in accordance to the Writ of Kalikasan issued by the Supreme Court.
Lopez noted that the suspended mining firms have received complaints of environmental degradation, usurpation of farmland, fish ponds and coastal areas, denudation of forests and lack of funds for progressive rehabilitation. She also said that mining business owners especially those foreign investors should follow our rules and regulations so that problems will not occur. After years of experiencing the effects of deforestation like flood, soil erosion and extreme heat, we can say that there are still people out there who deeply care for our environment. In this time of modernization and industrialization, nature needs more protection against us humans. As our environment regains from past wounds and exploitations, now is the right time to give back and secure the gifts God gave us. We do not want to experience His wrath again, don’t we?
