Mining companies should help protect and conserve the country’s rich biodiversity, an official of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said.
Environment Undersecretary Rodolfo C. Garcia made the statement during an interview at the sidelines of a weeklong international wildlife conference hosted by the Philippines on Saturday.
The country’s hosting was lauded as a success by organizers, with the increased protection for 34 species which have been uplisted or put in the list of Appendices for stronger protection under the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, or CMS.
Also called the Bonn Convention, the CMS aims to protect migratory species and their habitats among the signatories. The Philippines is one of 124 signatories to the international wildlife treaty, being a host to a good number of migratory birds that migrate through East Asia-Australian Flyway. It also hosts a number of endangered marine wildlife, including whale sharks or butanding, and the wedgefish, another shark species whose global population is on the decline.
According to Garcia, Environment Secretary Roy A. Cimatu is keen on protecting the country’s biodiversity given its benefits. At the same time, Cimatu also believes that mining can help spur economic development, if done properly.
“But we have to strike a balance [in mining] with the other things that have to be considered. Other than the economic benefit, we have to consider the effects to the environment. Those are the things we have been looking up—by the DENR and other advisory bodies. It should not be ‘go into this one, and let go of the other one,’” Garcia said.
Garcia added striking a balance between the environment, biodiversity and economic benefits of mining is high up in the agenda of the advisory bodies, like the Mining Industry Coordinating Council (MICC).
The MICC earlier recommended the lifting of the open-pit mining ban for select ores by environmental advocate Regina Paz L. Lopez during her short stint as DENR chief.
DENR Administrative Order 2017-10 bans prospective open-pit mining for gold, copper, silver and complex ores, to prevent the massive destruction of the country’s forests and protect the country’s freshwater source.
Open-pit mines involved the scraping of forests to dig mineral ores near the surface. In the process, it creates a huge cone-like hole.
Lopez cited three major reasons open-pit mining should not be allowed. Citing the so-called legacy mines, which include at least 14 abandoned open-pit mines, she said open-pits become a “perpetual financial liability” of the government, they pose a grave danger to communities and take away the economic potential of the area.
Environmentalists say the open-pit mining method is the most destructive method of extracting minerals because it destroys entire terrestrial or forest ecosystems which results in the extinction of in situ or site-endemic species of plant and animals.
However, the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines (COMP) said biodiversity conservation and protection is already part of the environmental-impact assessment conducted by mining companies. The environmental-impact assessment statement details the potential adverse impact to the environment, as well as the species of plant and animals to be affected.
“Biodiversity is already considered by mining companies in coming up with their environmental-impact statement. There is also a plan to restore the area’s productivity, including the biodiversity found therein,” COMP Executive Director Ronald S. Recidoro said.
Recidoro said the open-pit mining ban “unfairly highlights” the mines that were done irresponsibly before the Philippine Mining Act of 1995 was enacted. He added under the current law, measures have been put in place to ensure that abandoned mines will be rehabilitated, citing the ongoing rehabilitation of the Canatuan mines in Zamboanga del Norte and the gold mine of the Rapu-rapu Polymetallic Project on the island of Rapu-Rapu in Albay province.
DENR Biodivesity Management Bureau (BMB) Director Theresa Mundita S. Lim said they will develop a sustainability plan for biodiversity in mining areas in coordination with the Mines and Geosciences Bureau.
This, she said, aims to compel mining companies to do biodiversity assessment together with the BMB and its various conservation partners, particularly if the company intends to operate in an area that is considered a key biodiversity area.
She said that despite the environmental-impact studies being conducted by mining companies, it is also imperative that an in-depth study be conducted “to make sure that the information on the studies is complete.”
Mining areas sometimes overlap with key biodiversity areas or even Protected Areas (PAs), which are areas set aside for conservation to protect the country’s rich biodiversity.