Climate change is a convenient culprit and excuse for certain tragedies but we fail to remember that climate change is caused by human activity and it can also be mitigated by responsible action.
It is literally and painfully obvious—most of all to the survivors of natural calamities—that skewed public policies can also lead to the creation of disasters and the loss of lives and property.
Cagayan Valley residents were surprised when massive floods, which reached over 13 meters high, hit their province during the onslaught of Typhoon Ulysses, leaving thousands of them stranded on rooftops and in need of rescue.
The usual questions were once again asked: Who was really responsible for the flooding? What steps could have been taken to avoid the calamity? How could it be prevented in the future?
Despite all the questions, the discussions, the blaming even, we cannot begin to comprehend the loss and the suffering of those who have been victims of the tragedy. At the very least though, we should listen to the survivors. Vigorous national attention should be given to their grievances and demands.
Farmers belonging to the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas and DANGGAYAN Cagayan Valley blamed illegal logging and mining for the floods.
Cagayan Governor Manuel Mamba admitted that the floods could not have been due to the spilling from the Magat Dam alone, but was also caused by the “denudation of forests” and “siltation of rivers.”
Indeed, the problem goes beyond dam protocols. If the forests in Cagayan Valley were not denuded, they could have acted as a natural barrier to the floodwater caused by rain dumped by Typhoon Ulysses. Grade school science taught us trees also prevent soil erosion. They would have reduced sediment going into the Cagayan River and increased water absorption into the ground. With few trees acting as frontline defense, the rainwater running down bare mountains swelled the river and raised flood levels.
President Duterte promptly ordered a crackdown on illegal mining and logging activities in the province, even as lawmakers are set to investigate the possible non-compliance with laws, rules, or regulations that may have contributed to the floods.
Is this a bad case of déjà vu?
The country has suffered one tragedy after another as a result of rampant logging and mining yet government officials have done little to prevent the next tragedy. Administrations, both past and present, have responded in a reactive manner that did nothing to prevent further disasters.
In 1991, massive flooding and landslides brought on by a strong typhoon resulted in the deaths of nearly 8,000 people in Ormoc City, Leyte. The Ormoc tragedy, as it became known, was largely blamed on logging and deforestation. Calls for a total logging ban rang loud in the halls of Congress and Malacañang then.
In 2004, hundreds of people died in floods and landslides in Quezon, Aurora and Nueva Ecija after a series of storms. Blame was again cast on loggers who have stripped forests bare and turned lowland villages into death traps. Politicians talked all over again of enforcing a total logging ban.
In 2017, after massive floods devastated Northern Mindanao, President Duterte ordered then Environment Secretary Gina Lopez to “stop all logging operations with no exemptions.”
Former Presidents Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo had also ordered similar crackdowns on logging following similar flashfloods.
What do they say about people who do not learn the lessons of history? They are doomed to repeat its mistakes. And so we did. And we will keep repeating them with the same sorry results unless we learn to do better.
We know what we have to do, the right thing to do. The really hard part is doing it.
The main obstacle, of course, is the general corruption in the bureaucracy. Profitable mining and logging enterprises have tentacles that weave their way in and out of government.
Also, for a lot of people in poor communities, mining and logging are the only way to feed their families. So definitely, policy solutions must provide for the creation of alternative jobs and livelihood to encourage support from the people. There must be incentives for compliance that would be more attractive to logging, mining and other illegal and environmentally destructive activities.
Enforceability and economic feasibility issues tell us that being able to pass a law or regulation like a ban is one thing and having it followed is another.
There is no alternative, however, but to do what must be done and undo the damage that our inaction and neglect has already caused the environment.
1 comment
We can never blame anybody, it’s everybody’s awareness of over population, and the need of the population resulted in this. So, my only wish is control population boom.