Disaster preparedness is very important and must be adhered to by the local government units throughout the country. National Disaster Resilience Month is just a reminder that we must prepare and be resilient in the event of disaster and calamity. Disaster and calamity are happening all over the world, the latest victim being Japan, although prepared with the latest technology and equipment, it was unable to abate the nature’s fury.
How about the Philippines? God forbid. We all know what happened when Super Typhoon Yolanda struck a few years ago. Even today, we are haunted by corruption controversies associated with foreign aid.
I would like to share a statement by Green Alert Negros (GAN) related to their National Disaster Resilience Month observance: “In solidarity to the National Disaster Resilience Month, GAN emphasizes the importance of ecosystems in disaster risk reduction and how ecosystems contribute to reducing the risk of disasters in multiple and varied ways.”
In addition, GAN- Carlos Hilado Memorial State College chapter president, Pastor Ariel D. Garzon, said, “Scientific evidence reveals, in order to maintain balanced and healthful ecology, the country’s land area should be utilized on the basis of a ratio of 54 percent forest cover and 46 percent for agricultural, residential, industrial, commercial, and other uses; the distortion and disturbance of this balance, as a consequence of deforestation, have resulted in a host of environmental tragedies.”
GAN also compiled environmental conditions that make the province more susceptible to disaster.
With around 98 percent of all Philippine coral reefs already at risk due to human activity, 70 percent are considered high or very high risk, including the Negros marine ecosystem, which faces possible destruction of its remaining coral reefs mangrove forest with Hinoba-an accommodating for projects like ship-breaking facility.
The Energy Development Corporation’s entry into the Mt. Kanlaon Natural Park buffer zone has resulted in hundreds of hectares of forest cover cut down, including centuries-old trees, to make way for a geothermal plant, which has yet to generate a substantial power supply.
The illegal structures continually being constructed inside the Northern Negros Natural Park, specifically in Don Salvador Benedicto, is also a contributor.
A social science student said, “We are people of faith and of science, who, for centuries, have often traveled different roads. In time of environmental crisis, we find those roads converging. We accept our responsibility to help make known to the millions we serve and teach nature and consequences of the environmental crisis, and what is required to overcome it.”
Protecting the environment is just like loving your neighbor, which is a commandment God gave to us, said Garzon.
GAN challenges all concerned government agencies to strongly act on these issues, like the possible cutting-down of 15,000 mangroves in Hinoba-an.
GAN also urges, with forestry activities are particularly significant, protect the remaining forests in the province as they can provide a response to climate change through both adaptation and mitigation. The role of forests in alleviating carbon and helping address climate change is highly recognized./WDJ