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The Future of Sustainability: Have Your Say! Week One - “Global Challenges to Sustainability in the Twenty-First Century”
We are not alone in feeling disgust, outrage and mad at the oil spill that occurred in the Panay gulf in Guimaras. This is the worst ever environmental disaster that has happened in our country. The spill has destroyed not only the ecosystems of the marine environment, such as our mangrove forests, coral reefs and estuaries, but the start of the food chain where zooplanktons and phytoplanktons provide food for all marine species such as fish, mollusk, clams, and shellfish. And countless other marine species that lead to our plates for meals. The rich spawning and breeding grounds are gone. Gone also are the pristine beaches, the food and livelihood of the people. The Pearl of the Orient is in great danger. The Philippines is home to one of the richest marine environments in the world. It is part of the famed coral triangle; it is a mega diversity country in danger. It is so rich in natural resources, both terrestrial and marine. With what we have we can feed our people and the region as well. During the 8th Wilderness Congress in Anchorage, Alaska last October, 2005, Dr. Tricia Paterson of the USDA based in Washington D.C. informed the more than 2,000 delegates that ecosystem benefits provide us with over US$33 trillion dollars yearly. More than the GDPs of all the countries combined. Does this not send a clear enough message to our government to give the rightful attention to our environment? And in the 5th World Parks Congress in Durban, South Africa in 2003 we were told that the marine environment which covers over 75% percent of planet earth has only less than 1% percent declared as protected area and vowed to increase it. Another give-away tip to the so-called policy-makers for our environment. Having a coastline larger than the continental USA and an archipelago of 7,107 islands makes us rich and fragile. The spill is on its way to the Sulu Sea and the famed UNESCO Marine Heritage site, the Tubbataha reef. It has already destroyed our Taklong marine reserve and the beautiful pristine beaches of Guimaras, Iloilo and Negros. The oceans, known as the global commons for they are owned by no one but by everyone, are in great stress. For those who live by the sea and rely on the seas’ bounty for their food and livelihood, and for those who have seen the marvel of the oceans such as a grouper as large as a Volkswagen, a school of dolphins moving across the waters in choreographed fashion, a pod of whales playfully dancing with the waves, an amazing coral reef with all the multi-colored polyps and species, a lovely flock of migratory birds, we are outraged by the way the oil spill is being handled. We are outraged by the way the government treats the vast richness of our oceans. We already have illegally logged and destroyed our forests, brazenly mined our mountains, recklessly polluted our air and water and as if all that is not enough, this oil spill. While we have guarded our mangrove swamps, and protected our coral reefs and estuaries, all these are now destroyed by an oil spill. We live by the sea and make it our home and refuge. Now all is gone and for what? Oil? They can drink it all, we live with nature and God’s creation. Imagine that we can no longer bathe in our seas; no longer eat fish and marine species without fear of contamination and death. A staple food for us Filipinos and the rest of Asia where 60% percent of the people live under the poverty level, and where more than 1 billion people live with less than US$1 dollar a day. With the Visayan Sea polluted, a migratory path for marine species and the spill reaching the Sulu Sea and Palawan, we will suffer like we have never suffered before. We will have no marine food for our protein needs. Imagine the millions of Filipinos that gather shellfish during low tide? That is all history now. You can catch fish and eat it but not gold, silver and the weakening dollar. We are not alone in this disaster, the region and the global commons will be affected for all seas and oceans connect. From the gulf streams that pass the Pacific Ocean all the way to the US West coast and South America the poisons and toxins will reach. Things will never be the same. It will not take only 5 years to clean up and rehabilitate the damaged ecosytems, they are gone and destroyed forever. It takes years for a coral reef to grow an inch. It takes generations for mangrove forests to become breeding and spawning grounds for fish and marine species. Look at the Exxon Valdez until today it remains polluted. Not until we change our attitude on the richness of the sea, treating it with care like a loving mother and not a vast waste basket will humankind and the planet survive. Our planet earth is dying and no amount of money and economics can save her. She is fighting for her life to sustain her creatures and species, reeling from the effects of the melting glaciers of the Arctic, the expanding desserts of the Sahara and Gobi, to the dangers of global warming and climate change. Have we not learned from Ormoc, Quezon, Aurora, Katrina and Rita? Man has destroyed her and continues to do so even with all the environmental laws that have been made supposedly to protect her. What good are they if they are not implemented? How can we even minimize poverty, much less eradicate it, have clean air and water if we do not change our materialistic short sightedness? If we do not change our consumption patterns and lust for greed and power? If government, the institution with power in its hands to make a difference, will not perform its avowed duty to protect our environment? In the end what good is it all for when our Mother Earth cannot sustain life any longer? Yes, we are outraged, we are mad, angry and we are raising hell. They are killing our land, our country, our food, livelihood and environment. They are killing our Mother Earth. Our only home. Let us not allow them to destroy us, let us do our share in protecting our planet, not just in words but in concrete action. |