From logging to mining, for better or worse 20 years after Rio

For the “green and determined” activists who are old enough to remember, the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 marked the entry of the Philippine environmental movement onto the world stage. Back then, Junie Kalaw was the country’s most well-known environmentalist and the group that he headed, Haribon, the only major conservation organization in town.

Kalaw was one of the lead conveners of the parallel NGO gathering, now a staple in many United Nations conferences, which served as a counterpoint to the meeting of the world’s environment leaders. While the landmark summit outlined the elements of what would soon become global covenants on biodiversity, climate change, and desertification, the activists tackled thorny issues that bureaucrats would rather not discuss such as wasteful consumption, indigenous peoples’ rights, and food security.

In the heart of the Sulu Sea, the same year saw the crown jewel of Philippine coral reefs struggling to stem the tide of mindless commercialism that had destroyed many of the country’s natural resources. President Corazon Aquino had declared the Tubbataha Reefs the country’s first national marine park in 1988, but four years later, concerned divers were still trying to keep out blast fishers and a huge seaweed farming operation from the postcard-perfect coral atoll.

Mrs. Aquino is credited for supporting pro-environment policies and legislation that, among other things, drastically lessened the number of timber licenses and paved the way for a protected areas system in the country. Her administration’s efforts, which sought to reverse the excesses of her predecessor’s cronies, have borne fruit. When the world’s environment leaders met again in Johannesburg in 2002 for the Rio+10 summit, forestry officials reported that the Philippines had reversed the trend during Martial Law and more trees were beginning to cover denuded land.

By this time, the Tubbataha Reefs had also recovered from the ravages of the 1980s, and benefited from sustained protection after President Fidel Ramos decided to put a permanent detachment in the park. It became known as one of the well-managed protected areas in the country, and scuba divers from all parts of the world started flocking to the remote atolls to marvel at its underwater wonders.

This week, world leaders have once again converged in Brazil for the Rio+20 summit, but instead of focusing on the environment, they are more concerned about development amid the economic turmoil in the U.S. and Europe, according to media reports. The worrisome scenario is mirrored at home, where President Benigno Aquino III is set to sign a long-delayed government policy on mining that has a far-reaching impact on upland dwellers and whatever is left of the country’s forests.

Anyone using a mobile phone or computer should be aware that the insatiable appetite for consumer products has been driving the growth of the mining industry, which has seen prices of minerals soaring in recent years due to demand from technology companies. What most people do not realize is that mining is even more destructive than logging, which can be sustainable if licensees actually took the time to reforest their concession. In contrast, mining does not only strip the land of trees; it also removes tons of earth to get the buried riches underneath, creating a domino of environmental horrors that only reach the public’s consciousness when media reports from far-flung areas start to trickle in.

A quick Google search is all it takes to recall the devastation from reckless human activities in recent years. In 2004, the northern part of Quezon province became a mud bath and piles of logs cascaded from the mountains to the sea, forming eerily neat piles on the shore after a mere tropical storm. Metro Manila and major urban centers in Luzon had their doomsday moments in 2009 when Ondoy and Pepeng showed greedy investors and corrupt officials the morbid results of lack of waste management and shoddy construction. Just last December, storm Sendong sent torrents of debris smashing into city streets in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan, leaving hundreds of lives lost in its wake. Officials were quick to blame changing weather patterns from climate change, instead of admitting that human folly was a major factor in turning natural calamities into man-made disasters.

To be fair, there are encouraging signs on the environment front. Recent video documentaries showing healthy schools of fish and other marine life in Tubbataha have proven that local management works better than top-down approaches; this can also be seen in other protected areas that have gained community support and reaped the benefits of the Local Government Code. There are plenty of laws on various issues – clean water, fisheries, and climate change for instance – that have served as starting points for action on pressing problems. And there are many more players, including major international groups such as Oxfam, WWF, and Conservation International, which have environmental projects in the country.

But there are still many potential pitfalls along the way. Just as other countries are struggling with the need to balance environmental concerns with economic considerations, the Philippines has to weigh its priorities in terms of creating a better quality of life for the people and saving its unique natural heritage. With 90 million Filipinos to feed, it’s easy to overlook the fact that this is also a country where there are far more coral species than in the Carribean and more unique mammals than Madagascar, according to scientific studies.

Junie Kalaw is no longer around, but a new generation of environmentalists has taken on the tasks he left behind. Cory is gone too, and when PNoy signs off on the new mining policy, it would be good for him to look back at what his mother has done and think of how he can build on her legacy for the future of the Filipinos. He needs to be informed that even if the forest cover has gone up, this is mainly because of plantations, and the much more important old-growth forests have decreased in size. There is still so much in this country to care for and not to take for granted. And it will take so much more than conserving cute animals, planting trees, and going organic to truly save the Philippine environment.