Monday, November 13, 2017

The Philippines is Fast Becoming the Next Land of the Dodo By Michael A. Bengwayan






The Philippines is Fast Becoming the Next Land of the Dodo
By Michael A. Bengwayan
Gemini News Service (Wednesday, 03 March 2014 2017 00:00)

Sooner rather than later many of the Philippines ’ plants and animals will face the same fate as the proverbial dodo bird.

Its biodiversity is being destroyed at a fast clip, perhaps reaching an irreversible trend. Sooner rather than later, many of its plants and animals may be as dead as the proverbial dodo - the large, flightless bird that is now extinct.

No country has its plant and animal life being destroyed faster than in the Philippines , to go by the recently released Red List of Threatened and Extinct Species by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) based in Switzerland .

Another group, Conservation International (CI), recently described the Philippines as the "hottest" of the 25 so-called "bio-diversity hotspots" in the world - a record that does not speak well of the government's environmental conservation program and the public's apathy to environmental concerns. Hotspots are areas with the least number of species existing, the least number of species found in an exclusive ecosystem and have an alarmingly high degree of threat against the existing species.

The other hotspots include the Tropical Andes, Mediterranean Basin, Madagascar Islands in the Indian Ocean, Mesoamerica, Caribbean Islands, Indo-Burma, Atlantic Forest of Brazil, Cape Floristic Region of South Africa, Mountains of Central China, Sundaland, Brazilian Cerrado, Southwest Australia, Polynesia and Micronesia, New Caledonia, Choco/Darien/Western Ecuador, Western Ghats and Sri Lanka, California Floristic Province, Succulent Karoo, New Zealand, Central Chile, Guinean Forests of West Africa, Caucasus, Eastern Arc Mountains and Coastal Forests of Kenya and Tanzania and, Wallacea.

The World's Hottest Hotspot

The IUCN Red List, released on September 28 of last year, indicated the precarious future of Philippine flora and fauna. Of the 11,046 endangered and extinct plant and animal species documented by IUCN in 112 countries, 932 species, amounting to nine per cent of the world's total endangered and extinct species, are in the Philippines

The List is the most comprehensive analysis of global conservation ever undertaken, which involved 120 national governments and 735 environmental non-governmental organizations. IUCN has been in the forefront of environmental documentation globally for the past 20 years.

On record, the Philippines has 387 threatened species, making it number four in the list after Malaysia with 805 species, Indonesia with 763 and India with 459. Of its threatened species 50 are mammals, 67 birds, 8 reptiles, 22 amphibians, 28 fishes, 3 mollusks and 16 are other invertebrates.

However, with regards to extinct and threatened plants and animals, the country heads the list in Southeast and South Asia , and is second after Africa worldwide. The country has 318 extinct and threatened animals classified as follows: 2 extinct, 47 critically endangered, 44 endangered, 103 vulnerable, 7 conservation-dependent, 84 near-threatened and 31 species with deficient data.

Some of the threatened animals are the Philippine eagle, the rarest and the second largest eagle in the world, which is now down to about 350 - 600 birds compared to 6,000 eagles forty years ago. Another is the Mindoro crocodile (Crocodylus mindorensis), which is near to extinction. It is only recovering due to help from captive-breeding programs and conservation measures. The three-striped box turtle, which abound in the Sulu Sea , was also included in the Red List because it is under threat due to its value as a traditional medicine.

Among plants, the country has 227 extinct and threatened plants, the fourth most in the world. Of the total, 37 are critically endangered, 28 endangered, 128 are vulnerable, 3 conservation-dependent, 24 near-threatened and 7 with deficient data.

Endangered Marine Ecosystems

The country's marine and aquatic life are equally endangered. The Philippine coral reefs, one of the most diverse and largest in the world, may not be around for long. The World Bank last March released in its Environment Monitor monthly report that only 4.3 per cent or 1,161 sq km of the country's once-sprawling 27,000 sq km of coral reefs are in good state. This used to cover 10 per cent of the country's land area. But even then, the remaining parcel will eventually die as there is very little effort to stem the death of these natural fish-breeding grounds, the World Bank report said.

With the impending loss of the coral reefs, 10 to 15 per cent of the total marine fisheries' production for human consumption will be lost and adversely affect the livelihood of an estimated 65,000 fishing families, the report added. Some 500 to 700 coral reef species are being lost as the reefs die.

In 1998, the highly influential environmental think-tank, Earthwatch Institute, warned that 30 per cent of the Philippine coral reefs were already dead and that aggressive conservation efforts needed to be undertaken. But political events overcame genuinely committed conservation efforts, rendering the coral reefs to die due to destructive fishing methods, aquaculture development and pollution.

Mangroves, equally important breeding and spawning grounds for fish and shellfish, have not been spared. Mario Carreon, of the Fisheries Resources Management of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), stated that the Philippines has already lost some 11,543 square kilometers of mangrove forests. These were indiscriminately cut for firewood, construction, charcoal and lost to fishpond conversion.

"The coral reefs, sea grass beds and mangroves support 80 per cent of all commercial species of fish and shellfish. In the last 20 years, these have declined as much as 57 per cent in the Philippines ," he said.

The Philippines , with more than 7,000 islands, 2.2 million sq km of territorial waters and 300,782 sq km of land, once had the most expansive mangrove and coral reefs in Southeast Asia . But this is no longer true as Carreon said 4,000 hectares of mangroves are destroyed yearly.

Who is to Blame?

The World Bank and CI recently released US$150 million to support the protection efforts of these bio-diversity hotspots. CI is working in the protected 359,000 Palanan Wilderness Area of Palanan, Isabela of the Sierra Madre Ranges where 10 per cent of the country's remaining rainforest exists.

Among the factors blamed for the destruction of biodiversity are deforestation, booming population, poaching, over-hunting, logging, pollution and urban sprawl.

In the Philippines , various sectors-farmers, fishermen, government and non-government groups, globalization advocates and environmental policymakers-have been tossing the blame at one another. The answer can only be any or all of them.

But governmental policies take a big share of the blame, as well as government agencies that lack the political will to protect the national patrimony and foster a sense of natural stewardship among the people. All these, plus the fact that conservation programs are hardly a priority or carried out in earnest.

Deploring the country's sad state of corals, the World Bank said: "The Philippines , which has perhaps the best coral reefs, does not give importance to its water resources. The people should find ways to rehabilitate the coral reefs because almost 55 per cent of the fish consumed in the country depend on the coral reefs."

The World Bank itself is not free of any blame for global environmental decay. It is often being held largely responsible for the poverty of developing countries- one reason why deforestation is widespread worldwide.

The World Bank continued: "Dynamite and cyanide fishing is still rampant in the Philippines and Indonesia and the governments have done little to curb these destructive fishing methods which are illegal under Philippine laws as well as under the 1975 Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES).”

The Coral Reef Alliance (CRA), which monitors coral reef developments worldwide, said the country has not done well in protecting its coral reefs, and instead, is a major illegal exporter of coral reefs for aquariums, especially in the United States .

In the Philippines , the coral reefs are protected under Presidential Decree 1219, which, however, is not rigidly enforced. The CITES law, to which the Philippines is a signatory, prohibits the sale of coral reefs.

With regards to deforestation, Senator Loren Legarda, who once headed the Senate's environment committee, blamed flawed government policies for the loss of forests and plants. "Government negligence has prompted the devastation of not only forests but all that live with it," she said.

Flawed government policies have been worsened by corruption in environmental conservation programs.

For instance, Dr. Frances Korten, former head of the Ford Foundation in the Philippines, said that the $US325 million loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in 1990 for national reforestation was a failure. "The program was ill-advised and managed and relied on insufficient data. The program all the more accelerated the damage it intended to reverse," she charged.

The continuing loss of bio-diversity in the country may thus be said to be the collective result of administrative, mismanagement, corruption and social inequity.

(Michael A. Bengwayan has a Masters Degree and Ph.D. in Development Studies and Environmental Resource Management from University College Dublin, Ireland as a European Union Fellow. He writes for the British Gemini News Service, New York’s Earth Times and the Environmental News Service. He is currently a Fellow of Echoing Green Foundation, New Yor

Creating Sacred Spaces .....michael a. bengwayan



Creating Sacred Spaces
.....michael a. bengwayan

Today is Sunday. Today I will create a sacred space. Like I do every Sunday. I create a sacred space to bring my spirit into harmony with life in my daily environment. 
 
When my mind is clear and is fully present to life, and the world around me. I am in a sacred place. Hovering above are trees, all around are weeds, flowers, fruit-bearing trees, vegetable clumps, ants running to start work, bees and butterflies hovering and a late bat escaping the last shadow of darkness.. 
 
I create a sacred space by ritually changing and rearranging my outer environment (letting a limestone stand over the daisies, allowing more sunlight for the anthurium, pruning more chestnut leaves to allow bees to pass by freely) ...they are a means of both focusing my mind--becoming present to the sacred--which is always within me, life. I end in a prayer of thanksgiving to the Maker, thankful for my family, friends, co-workers and the strangers who have done me kindness. Asking forgiveness for my human frailties, thanking that a week has ended. 
 
And look forward to another morrow.

Today in this fateful hour


Good morning friends, awake and asleep. We thank God for the rest. Today in this fateful hour I place all Heaven with its power, and the sun with its brightness, and the rain with its chill, and fire with all the strength it has, and lightning with its rapid wrath, and the winds with their swiftness along their path, and the sea with its deepness, and the rocks with their steepness, and the Earth with its starkness– all these I place, by God’s almighty help and grace, between ourselves and the powers of darkness.

Just a Little Light Will Do ...michael a. bengwayan...


Just a Little Light Will Do
...michael a. bengwayan...

As an early riser I learn a lesson each cold morning about the truth of spiritual life. From the light on my veranda beaming down on my fruit trees, illuminating dark grotesque shadows of the pine forest, a late bat swooping off to her cave, roosters crowing to greet the day and moths hovering around the warm spotlights, each day is a promise met by the Lord.

Each day is hope and it doesn’t take a whole lot of light to have hope. Even if the sun were to shine just one fourth of its brightness, it will be bright enough, that it gives hope enough. Because there is so much darkness in the world. So much hatred, ugliness and division. Racism and injustices prevail, apathy, intolerance and uncaring are prevalent. Greed, lust, and anger continue to dominate the scene. Wars and conflicts are in the news daily. The amount of darkness in the world is staggering, so much so that we may wonder if there is any hope for the world. But there is hope. Darkness can be defeated. It doesn’t take a lot of light to dispel the darkness. That’s why it’s so important that we let our light shine. as Jesus let His light shine.

As the “Light of the world,” he called each of us to be the light to others. And to do so, it only takes a spark as the song goes. Each day, give that hope to others. Good morning folks.

Tuesday, November 7, 2017

Cedars of Lebanon, The Trees God Planted By Michael A. Bengwayan, Ph. D.




Cedars of Lebanon, The Trees God Planted
By Michael A. Bengwayan, Ph. D.

God, besides creating the trees, planted trees.
In the book  of Ezekiel 17:22-24, God said: “ I myself will take a shoot from the very top of a cedar and plant it; I will break off a tender sprig from its topmost shoots and plant it on a high and lofty mountain. On the mountain heights of Israel I will plant it; it will produce branches and bear fruit and become a splendid cedar. Birds of every kind will nest in it; they will find shelter in the shade of its branches. All the trees of the forest will know that I the LORD bring down the tall tree and make the low tree grow tall. I dry up the green tree and make the dry tree flourish. I,  the LORD have spoken, and I will do it.” 

The Lebanon Cedar or cedrus libani is one of the most majestic trees of the world. They grow exclusively on Mount Lebanon, a mountain range that extends along the entire length of the country, and once covered the entirety of the mountain.

Lebanon Cedars have imposing trunks with dense, iconic crowns that become characteristically flat-headed as the trees age, and fairly level branches. Their bark is dark gray but the wood is beautiful light tone, hard and astonishingly decay resistant. The gum they secrete has a sweet aroma. Despite their exposed position, the trees remain ever green, never shed their leaves, and are always fragrant.
According to Amusing Planet, “the cedars of Lebanon were known since historical times. Indeed, the cedars played a key role in creating the name of Lebanon and its glory, for the Lebanese cedar was one of the most valued construction material in the antique world. 

The Phoenicians used cedars to build ships in which they sailed the Mediterranean, making them one of the first sea trading nations in the world. The cedars of Lebanon were also used by the Assyrians, Babylonians, Greeks, Romans, and Persians to construct houses and temples, the most famous of which are the temple of Jerusalem, and David's and Solomon's Palaces. The Egyptians used cedar resin for the mummification process, and Jews used the peel of the Lebanese Cedar in circumcision and treatment of leprosy. The Ottomans used cedar wood as fuel for railway engines because it burned much better than traditional oak, since cedar contains oil.”

“Egypt  cut large amounts of cedar for ship construction and for export. This continued for several thousand years until the 20th century when British troops of the Second World War finished off most of the remaining forests by using cedar wood to build railroad,” Amusing Planet said. 

The website added that “the Roman Emperor Hadrian, in the second century AD, had attempted to protect the forest with boundary markers carved into rocks. Over 200 such markers have been identified allowing scholars to make an approximation of the extent of the forest in those times. 

In 1876, Queen Victoria of Great Britain, ordered a protective wall to be built around a 102-hectare grove, but deforestation continued despite this. It wasn’t until the late 20th century that the cedars were declared a protected natural resource. By then, this immense forest had been reduced to just a couple of hundred specimens that grew in a handful of isolated patches.” 

According to Cedars Forever, a cedar preservation and reforestation program, there are 18 such patches of cedars in the country today. One of these groves, called the Cedars of God, stand in a sheltered glacial pocket of Mount Makmel, in the Kadisha Valley. This grove of about 375 trees are thought to be the oldest in Lebanon. Four of them, many hundreds of years old, have reached a height of 35 meters and their trunks are between 12 and 14 meters around. About a thousand young saplings were planted at the entrance of the grove in recent decades, but because of their slow growth it would take a long time before they mature. 




This site was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 1998. The tree is  the symbol of Lebanon,  its pride, and features prominently on the Lebanese flag.