Michael A. Bengwayan / Special to the BusinessMirror
BAGUIO’S environment is now in deep crisis, reaching such state of environmental degradation, that people experience its stark impacts daily.
People suffer the evidences of urban blight—such as air pollution, shrinking forest areas and watershed and biodiversity loss, garbage problem, lack of water, dying rivers, poor air quality, traffic and congestion, and increase in natural disasters.
These phenomena are clear signs it is crossing critical boundaries and approaching dangerous tipping points in the state of the city’s environment.
The limited land and resources of Baguio City are now stretched beyond its limits. The carrying capacity of the city has already been exceeded.
The development of the city’s land and resources should be managed and planned in a rationale, cohesive and holistic manner, taking into consideration the welfare of the people, the future generations and the sustainability of the environment.
The wanton disregard by government officials of the people’s sentiment in giving priority to profit-generating development for a few elite corporations over the needs and welfare of the majority of the people could not be allowed. The public authorities should be made accountable for their failure to stop this reckless violation of the rights of the Baguio people to land, resources and a healthy environment.
Baguio needs a comprehensive land-use plan that strikes the proper balance between economic development and environmental protection, ensure that the remaining forest cover, watershed areas and parks of the city are protected, conserved and further developed, while regulating the need for residential, institutional and commercial zones.
The city must recognize the importance of trees in the development of Baguio and their indispensable role in maintaining the environment, land, air and water resources of Baguio City, as well as in mitigating carbon emission, global warming and climate change. It must declare all trees as natural heritage and enforce rigidly a no-tree cutting policy.
There is a need to conduct geohazard mapping to determine dangerous land areas in Baguio as a basis for disaster-risk reduction and preparedness, while ensuring that this is not misused to justify relocation and/or demolition of informal settlers and rightful owners.
The city government must partner with the private sector to conduct a comprehensive study and hold public consultation and multisectoral dialogues toward arriving at a sustainable solution to the garbage problem of the city. Close down, clean up and rehabilitate the Irisan dump to make it safe for community residents and surrounding barangays.
There is a must to intensify programs to reduce, reuse and recycle waste in the city. Encourage and support viable household-level and community-level initiatives, as well as indigenous and innovative practices of waste management as an integral part of the comprehensive program of waste management of the city, including the use of vermiculture, the eco-compost receptacle and residual waste terrace.
A local law must be crafted and enforced regarding more alternative material, such as bayong, paper bags and other alternative to plastics and Styrofoam in the city, and assert political will for the implementation of the law on the use of plastics.
Last, the local government must accelerate clean and green development, environmental education programs in schools and communities, indigenous knowledge and practices in natural resource management, and grassroots involvement in environmental management.
It must also promote sustainable urban agriculture.
Bengwayan has a master’s degree and PhD in Development Studies and Environmental Resource Management from the University College Dublin, Ireland, as a European Union fellow. He is currently a fellow of Echoing Green Foundation in New York.
Image credits: Michael A. Bengwayan