Still vivid in my mind are the carefree childhood days in the sea—with my father teaching the young girls in the family how to swim, and us frolicking to our hearts’ content, splashing one another with water, and rolling with or attempting to outrace the waves, in high spirits. Then, we were not privy to the alluring colors and creatures inhabiting our marine world. But, the exhilarating feeling of being in harmony with the sea and with family sealed our eternal love affair with our oceans.
Birthdays, reunions and other milestones were always celebrated in the beach. It was thus natural for us, when we became parents, to raise our kids to love our waters, just as Papa and Mama did. It is no wonder then that most of our children took up diving and underwater photography, and we, the seniors, contentedly looked with amazement at underwater scenery through snorkeling or through the images they shared.
Decades after discovering the limitless possibilities that our coasts and oceans offer, and as more relaxed parents and citizens this time, my sisters and I find ourselves converging back to the sea of our childhood. Just being there is finding a piece of heaven on Earth, basking in serenity, even for a few hours.
There are always miracles that happen which we in the humdrum of day-to-day living take for granted—birds giving us a glimpse of how they catch fish, turtles’ heads popping up at a moment’s notice eliciting excited shrieks, hermit crabs going about their routine and, for us not to forget the cycle of life, a dead juvenile manta ray or crabs washed ashore.
While we delight in the moments of bliss in our coasts, we are painfully aware that the sea of our childhood is no longer the same. It is no longer pristine and has been turned into a convenient abyss of gross indifference and neglect. The unwanted items like plastic bags, corks, empty sachets, cigarette stubs, slippers, worn-out nets, even diapers thrown into the sea have destroyed countless marine animals and have even become part of the food chain.
The erosion of our shores is likewise most visible. The sea has expanded, as scientists have so predicted but to which politicians and fossil fuel industry and people with their business-as-usual mind frames stubbornly choose to turn a blind eye.
Climate change is an obvious reality. Yolanda and other supertyphoons have hit us badly. Precious lives were lost. Billions of pesos worth of properties and livestock were lost or sustained damage. Yet, six months after we were shocked out of our wits by Haiyan’s ferocious might, collective amnesia on climate change is again letting slip from us the opportunity to build our ability to face climate change and disasters, golden opportunities to build our resiliency and yes, redeem our people’s sense of honor and dignity.
The recent statements of Rehabilitation Secretary Panfilo Lacson on the no-build zones, the continuing defiance of establishments in setting up structures within the easement zones, and the word of Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson that trees standing in the way of road construction projects would have to go, despite the strong laws on environmental rights and protection and requirement of integration of climate change in decision-making process show that we are taking a big risk in not mainstreaming sustainability. Truly, we have not learned from the senseless deaths, pain and destruction that are becoming a natural occurrence in this most vulnerable country to disasters in the world.
What does it take to lift us from our detachment from nature and our senseless appetite for so-called development projects that will further destroy what little resources are left to sustain life on land and in our oceans?
Yesterday, June 8, we celebrated World Oceans Day, pursuant to a 2008 United Nations (UN) General Assembly declaration. It is meant to increase global awareness on the multitude of challenges besetting our oceans, no thanks to humans’ rapaciousness for limited riches and of course, capacity for insatiable pollution and plunder.
It is time for serious reflection on how we can individually and collectively reduce pressures on the habitats and the species dependent on them, including ourselves. Overfishing, wasted catch, habitat destruction and pollution require urgent solutions. Thus, we are exhorted to make a pledge to restore the health of our oceans. The actions could range from doing away with plastics which end up being eaten by birds, turtles, dolphins and other creatures, opting for local and sustainable foods, to using energy wisely as climate change will cause the acidification of our oceans.
The range of actions for national and local government should include harmonized policies for the protection of our ecosystems, mainstreaming environmental accounting, no-nonsense enforcement of environmental laws, an all-out campaign against illegal, unreported and unregulated or IUU fishing, and a moratorium on polluting and climate change causing coal power plants and reclamation projects. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources should now institute actions to stop the 600 illegal reclamation projects all over the country and hold the violators accountable for ecosystem damage.
As UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said on World Oceans Day 2013, “Let us work together to create new waves of action for ocean sustainability—or people and the planet.”
Actually, we have few options left.