{"id":9476,"date":"2020-04-27T17:40:29","date_gmt":"2020-04-27T09:40:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/?p=9476"},"modified":"2020-05-04T15:59:00","modified_gmt":"2020-05-04T07:59:00","slug":"a-glimpse-at-the-critical-state-of-the-philippine-environment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/a-glimpse-at-the-critical-state-of-the-philippine-environment\/","title":{"rendered":"A glimpse at the critical state of the Philippine environment"},"content":{"rendered":"

While nations attempt to meet the sustainable development goals\nenvisioning an end to poverty, protection of the planet, and peace and\nprosperity, neoliberalism has spearheaded the unbridled destruction of the\nenvironment. This was discussed by IBON in the webinar-launch of its new book State\nof the Philippine Environment<\/em> on the 50th<\/sup> Earth Day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Done at the height of the coronavirus lockdown, IBON research head\nRosario Guzman discussed sections of the book with the closest relation to the\ncoronavirus pandemic. Studies show that the coronavirus may have been an\nanimal-to-human transmission of a pathogen and that this finds roots in disrupted\necology. Tackled were deforestation and land-use changes, loss of ecological\nintegrity due to \u2018dirty industries\u2019, urbanization and poverty, and climate\nchange risks and vulnerabilities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crippled by culprits<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The discussion in the book has been quite straightforward, Guzman\nshared. The environment is in a critical state, degraded hugely by destructive\nand extractive profit-motivated activities of foreign and local corporations,\noligarchs, politicians, officials, and certain individuals. Their operations\nhave been ushered by government policies no less, which are neoliberal,\npro-foreign, pro-business, anti-environment, and anti-people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The current context is that of gross income inequality. To\nillustrate, the country\u2019s top oligarchs who belong to the richest, narrowest\nsection of Philippine society (Sy, Villar, Gokongwei, Razon, and Ayala families,\nto cite the top 5 in 2020) have accumulated wealth from environmental\ndestruction. Their businesses include environment-encroaching sectors such as\nreal estate, construction, food and drinks, ports development, manufacturing,\npower, energy, water, oil, telecommunications, mining, and agribusiness. Their\ndominance in the economy, on the other hand, leave those at the base \u2013 families\nwhose monthly incomes fall under the Php21,000 and below bracket \u2013 poor and\nvulnerable to hunger, disasters, and diseases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deforestation and land conversion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Human activities disrupting the ecological balance such as\nclearing of forests and land-use changes may have led to the emergence of\npathogens such as the coronavirus. Logging, mining, corporate plantations, and\nother extractive activities have eaten at the forest cover of the Philippines,\nwhich has diminished to just 7 million hectares as of 2015, or just 23.3% of\nthe country\u2019s land area.  According to\nenvironment scientists, this is ecologically unhealthy and critical given the\ncountry\u2019s geography and terrain, which should sustain a 54% forest cover. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Land degradation due to soil erosion is moderate in 16.6% and severe\nin 70.5% of the country\u2019s land area. The Philippines was among the first\ncountries to implement the Green Revolution, which promoted the use of inorganic\nchemicals and input-dependent crop varieties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Land conversion for corporate agriculture, cash crops, real estate\nand infrastructure has added to ecological disruption. For instance, the\nDuterte administration is allocating one million hectares for oil palm plantations,\n98% of which are in Mindanao. It is also pushing for its Build, Build, Build infrastructure\nprojects \u2013 case in point are the dam projects nationwide, six of which under loans\nwith China, which threaten to destroy farms, forests and water sources, and\ndisplace communities and livelihoods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Loss of ecological integrity<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The loss of ecological integrity has also been due to \u2018dirty\nindustries\u2019 being promoted by the government, such as large-scale mining that has\nalways been equated with environmental destruction and the preference for dirty\nfuel such as coal for energy development. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Large-scale mining entails cheap methods that spell deforestation,\nslope destabilization, soil erosion, water resource gradation, desertification,\ncrop damages, siltation, alteration of terrain and sea bottom topography,\nincreased water turbidity, and air pollution. Guzman noted how large-scale\nmining violations cut across environmental, human and sovereign rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then there is the heavy reliance on coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel\nand a major source of air pollution. Eleven of 49 current committed power plant\nprojects are coal-fired, accounting for 78% of combined rated capacity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Urbanization and poverty<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because of lack of rural development, people flock to the cities\nlooking for livelihood and jobs. Guzman said that urbanization has become\nassociated more with poverty and diseases instead of development. Especially in\nMetro Manila, millions are rendered vulnerable under the enhanced community\nquarantine (ECQ). While being one of the most important anti-COVID-19 measures,\nphysical distancing is difficult to practice in the region where 29% of the\nfamilies are cramped in spaces that allow only four square meters and below per\nperson, which is below World Health Organization (WHO) standard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of four residents in Metro Manila is an informal settler, and 51%\nof informal settlers live in danger areas. Also, the health advice of frequent\nhand washing and disinfecting of surroundings is a huge challenge where only a\nlittle over half of families have water piped into their dwellings and 24%\nstill source water from protected wells.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, air pollution is Metro Manila\u2019s problem. The region is\nnot only the worst traffic on earth as the navigational app Waze once said and the\nmost congested, it is also among the world\u2019s cities with poorest air quality. The\nPhilippines ranks third among countries with the highest incidence of deaths\nrelated to outdoor air pollution, 65% of which is due to mobile sources. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Climate\nchange disasters  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Philippine contribution to the climate crisis is minute if\ncompared to the accountability of transnational corporations of the\nindustrialized countries. Yet, the country\u2019s greenhouse gas emissions have also\nincreased from 2007 to 2017 due to its continued use of oil and increasing\nreliance on coal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The injustice still lies in the fact that the Philippines, despite\nits minor contribution to GHG, is among most vulnerable to climate disasters. The\nPhilippines is the 5th<\/sup> most affected country by climate disasters\nfrom 1998 to 2017, according to the Climate Risk Index 2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anti-environment policy and Philippine vulnerability to climate\nhazards<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The imperiled state of the environment is the direct result of\ndecades of Philippine government legislation that prioritizes foreign\ninvestment and trade anchored on environmentally destructive premises. The\npromotion of real estate development, national land use policy that favors pro-foreign\nand pro-business infrastructure and agribusiness, and the liberalization and\nprivatization of public utilities and the commons have been the general\nframework of environmental destruction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, these neoliberal policies have entailed the demolition\nof slums and the urban poor, bay reclamation and coastal displacement, land and\nresource grabs, including and the grabbing of ancestral lands of the indigenous\npeople, and displacement of farming communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The country has seen private interests taking over Philippine\nresources, utilizing these for profit-making, and narrowing people\u2019s chances\nfor healthy environment and living.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ways forward<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Philippine environment is very much devastated, degraded,\nrendering us helpless and vulnerable to this pandemic. Yet, Guzman said that\nthe Philippines is the center not only of environmental degradation but also of\nenvironmental movements, albeit noting that environment defenders in the\ncountry are also top harassed, killed, and victimized by human rights\nviolations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Philippine environmental movement has contributed much to the\ndiscourse of sustainable development. Guzman concluded her discussion by\nsaying, \u201cPerhaps we should put the people\u2019s right to a healthy environment as an\noverarching principle not just in the Constitution but in all laws. This will\nalways be at odds with neoliberalism, which we can spend a lifetime, even maybe\nuntil the next coronavirus, fighting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guzman\u2019s lecture was followed by a panel discussion on water, food and medical waste management in the time of COVID-19. Attended online by over 500 participants from schools, environmental groups and advocates, institutions, academe, journalists, and others nationwide, the webinar-launch was co-organized with the Center for Environmental Concerns (CEC) Philippines , Kalikasan-People\u2019s Network for the Environment (PNE), and Youth Advocates for Climate Action Philippines (YACAP). It was the last in a three-part series titled \u201cState of the Philippine Environment: Ecological Challenges and Ecological Solutions\u201d, which was also featured in Earth Day Network Philippines and Agroecology X activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

IBON\u2019s State of the Philippine Environment<\/em> is a colorfully\nillustrated reference book with nine chapters.*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* The State of the Philippine Environment\u2019s chapters are: 1 \u2013\nForests, 2 \u2013 Land, 3 \u2013 Marine and Coast Environment, 4 \u2013 Freshwater Resources,\n5 \u2013 Air, 6 \u2013 Dirty Industries, 7 \u2013 Urbanization, 8 \u2013 Climate Change, 9 \u2013\nCharting Real Solutions. Editors: Sanny Afable and Rosario Guzman. Illustrated\nby Jennifer Padilla. For copies contact IBON or the IBON Bookshop on Facebook\nwhile the lockdown remains in force.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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