Climate crisis and corruption in environmental exploitation
Corruption in environmental exploitation is at the root of the recent flooding due to Typhoons “Emong,” “Crising,” and “Dante.”
Illegal logging has felled trees that would parry strong winds and absorb the rain with their roots. Destructive mining of the mountains has rendered the slopes vulnerable to erosion. Quarrying has brought mountains down to ground zero. The ongoing reclamation of coastal waters has further intensified quarrying, blocking the natural drainage of water from inland areas to the sea. Conversion of prime agricultural lands has threatened food self-sufficiency. Estuaries and wetlands, where mangroves and seagrass beds proliferate—protecting islands from typhoons and providing breeding grounds for food sources—have been decimated to make way for commercial structures.
The Philippine Institute for Development Studies reports that the Philippines lost 60 percent of its forest cover from 17 million hectares in 1934 to only 6.8 million hectares in 2010.
Even after the establishment of selective logging, logging bans, annual allowable cuts, and protected areas in the second half of the 20th century (Liu et al., 1993), corrupt politicians with ties to the commercial agricultural and forestry sectors continued to authorize generous logging concessions, under-invoice lumber exports, and help smuggle logs (Kummer, 1991; Kummer and Turner, 1994 in Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, ScienceDirect.com).
We are now in a climate crisis. We should stop all destructive activities against the environment and act now.
How to cooperate with other countries to prevent exceeding the 1.5 degrees Celsius limit in temperature and arrest the crisis requires a comprehensive introduction and implementation of ecological alternatives that would address people’s rights to breathe clean air, drink safe water, eat nutritious food, and live in a hazard-free environment.
The national government needs to coordinate local governments and engage communities, businesses, civic organizations, the church, academe, youth, and other sectors to carry out sustainable practices that will minimize garbage along creeks, streams, rivers, and floodways. Among these are home- and community-based waste segregation; composting of biodegradable waste; reuse, recycling, and sale of nonbiodegradable waste; chemical-free gardening and farming; refraining from consumerism, and avoidance of single-use plastic.
How to catch up fast to regain what has been lost, and considering how many years it would take for trees to grow, another ecological alternative is to grow grass immediately. Bamboo, or Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae, is the world’s fastest growing plant, with certain species attaining full growth in about just a year, compared to trees that take up to several years to mature; it gives off 30 to 35 percent more oxygen and sequesters 10 times or more tons of carbon dioxide than trees. Bamboo can store large amounts of water in its roots and stems, as a reservoir during droughts. The roots protect the soil from landslides and erosion.
Section 16 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution says: “The State shall protect and advance the right of the people to a balanced and healthful ecology in accord with the rhythm and harmony of nature.”
Corruption has “archived” this constitutional provision.
Joey C. Papa and Ana Celia Ver-Papa,
Bangon Kalikasan Movement
