Will the nightmarish flooding, landslides, pollution, water woes, fisheries and biodiversity issues besetting Cebu and other parts of the country more often now make us take stock of the fact that we have been remiss in respecting the laws of nature?
The immutable laws of nature include the following precepts: We, humans and non-humans, are all inter-connected. There is no such thing as free lunch, everything goes somewhere, and nature has the last say. Always.
The laws of humans, and to be more specific, our environmental laws including our Constitution, are meant to respect and follow the laws of nature.
They are designed to make us live in harmony with her and to obviate catastrophes arising from our own failings in mistreating her so badly –– as we have been doing in the past and still pathetically do, despite clear evidence that we have become our own worst enemies.
These laws require us to acknowledge that humans are just among the many species that abound in the natural systems in this world, that we are not superior to any of the creatures, and that humans and non-humans deserve respect.
In all the choices that we make, on a day-to-day basis, we must recognize that we impact on the living systems in land, air, water and our seas. Few recognize this, as do the persons and the institutions obliged to foster the values and awareness required for each one of us to be stewards of nature, and not her destroyers.
Unfortunately also, except for a handful, others given the legal mandates chose to disregard and instead look the other way when the laws of nature and humans are flagrantly violated. By so doing, they effectively foster that totally unfounded impression that these implementing entities have the power to control the consequences of their and our very own failings.
We know very well that neither they nor anyone for that matter are vested with such power. Only Nature has the last say, remember?
A concrete example from which we should learn was the catastrophic national policy of converting hundreds of thousands of mangrove forests into fishponds, for a short-sighted economic gain. How many species that depend on mangroves as their habitats and life support system and vital for fisheries and livelihoods were decimated because of this policy? The targeted benefits of the program could never even make up for the ecosystem services that only mangrove forests could provide.
A publication on “The Loss of Species: Mangrove Extinction Risk and Geographic Areas of Global Concern” reiterates numerous findings that mangroves “provide protection as well as food for fish and other marine animals. They help prevent coastal areas from soil erosion, act as filters, prevent the damaging effect of upland sediments on seagrass beds and coral reefs, minimize the effects of storm surges and mitigate climate change as they are carbon sinks sequestering up to 25.5 million tonnes of carbon per year”.
Mangroves, and the interconnected coral and seagrass ecosystems, perform ecosystem services that are taken for granted and considered as externalities, thus excluded from the costs and benefits impacts of a development project such as the senselessly devastating and incongruous reclamation projects in this era of climate challenges.
A stirring study by Jurgenne Primavera noted that from an estimated 500,000 hectares of mangrove cover in 1918, only 120,000 hectares of mangroves remained in the Philippines as of 1994. Despite the Forestry Reform Code which criminalizes the cutting and destruction of mangroves, the staggering loss continues.
Abundance does create complacency and can stimulate human weakness such as greed. The National Wetlands Action Plan for the Philippines 2011-2016 states that “Forty of the 54 mangrove species in the world are found in the Philippines.” Why is it still so hard to instill a sense of pride among us in being vested with such a rare privilege, and to embed a nurturing mindset instead?
What has happened to the converted fishponds? Many were idle and abandoned. Others mysteriously became alienable and disposable lands.
Indeed, the requirement of the law that idle and abandoned fishponds should revert to the State should be complied with now. Reforestation, not regression, is the call of the times.
By our gross sins of omissions and failing to take care of Mother Nature, we have failed not only her but ourselves and our children as well.
Let us be mindful of our ways, and cherish nature as much as we do those dear to us and their future.