Environmental Accounting in Boracay....by Michael A. Bengwayan

Environmental Accounting in Boracay

By Michael A. Bengwayan, Ph.D., Environmental Resource Management

In environmental resource management, we have what we call environmental accounting which is the sum of costs  connected to the actual or potential deterioration, damage, destruction of natural assets due to human, especially economic activities. We did not expect the media to be thorough in their reportage regarding this as not many in the pen-pushing noble work had all the ingredients in environmental journalism. Now that Boracay is closed, one is wont to ask, how much damage has really been done on the island, will it recover, what and how intense is the marine ecosystem affected?

It is important to ask these questions because  of increasing  and worsening environmental problems,  in the midst of tourism economic, social and technological developments which threaten  the future  and sustainable development in Boracay and neighboring marine ecosystem.

In Boracay,  marine pollution  comes mainly from land..Nutrient pollution comes from diverse sources, including hotels, restaurants, shops , residences that emit sewage (from mostly human wastes) and wastewater discharges.  It overloads  the marine environment with high concentrations of nitrogen, phosphorous, and other nutrients, which now produce the widespread large algal blooms or “lumot”.  The decomposition of these algae after they die consumes oxygen.  This creates hypoxic, or oxygen depleted, “dead zones” where fish and other marine life cannot thrive.  In effect, it creates dead zones in other areas due to adverse effects of high nutrient pollution.

Fishing and shellfish industry are  being hurt by harmful algal blooms that kill fish and contaminate shell fish. The losses  spell lower source of food for the next generations.

The marine debris – trash and other solid material that enter the  bay from the wetlands now occupied by squatters – threaten wildlife and marine habitats, presents health and safety concerns for humans, and imposes costs  to the island and coastal areas, not only now but more so, the future.  Plastic wastes, consistently makes up a significant proportion of the marine debris polluting the seabed, corals seagrasses and marine life.  It does not biodegrade and is consumed by marine life, killing fishes, turtles and other aquatic life. The costs can never be estimated.

Preventing trash from entering the sea is difficult due to the many sources, including  lax municipal laws of the island, corrupt officials, poor trash management by hotels, restaurants and communities and incomplete waste facilities, widespread littering by tourists, and inadequate municipal storm sewers carrying trash in rainwater runoff.

The closure of Boracay should not only be measured by the loss of money or jobs because tourism, when irresponsible,  does not only affect the Filipino as a victim.

The victim here appears to be much of  the future life in the Philippines.

Prayer for the Morning .........Michael A. Bengwayan

Prayer for the Morning
Michael A. Bengwayan

God  of all who walk the Earth
bring to Earth new life
Make our labor bring new creation
that heals destruction
Let the Spirit of Life revitalize our work
increase our awareness and love
Make us learn and appreciate
Interdependence of each creation
Towards life-giving movements
Make us work and not talk
To cherish concreteness
Over idle judgment and prating.... Amen

Daybreak....….michael bengwayan

Daybreak…
….michael bengwayan

I do not tire waking up each daybreak to hear the birds’ calls. I want to hear their morning songs that serenade the fullness of each flower’s bloom. I stand on my balcony and look over the fruit trees, bending from heavy fruits. The red-beard tree grooves delighting in sparkling green. Every moment is savored by the promises of new challenges to be breached. Each bird and cricket call are led to outstanding performance by an unseen maestro. Nothings seems unplaced, each outburst a song, all chirping a melody, fine-tuned that even the deaf would feel just by the sight of them. Nothing is left for granted.

 
Alone, I have a wishful thinking that each prayer’s faith, a new way is laid. For each nature’s glow, hopeful horizon grows. I know each week is a testing and a stressful path. The best thing about having faith is trusting to the judgement of an Everlasting Power who holds the plan for you, regardless of religion,.... faith is the one thing we all share. The implicit trust that is required to believe that whatever trials are placed in our path are for the greater good though we cannot understand the reasoning. I do  sometimes, I admit. I am drawn to an unexplainable things that seem destined to happen and I am just there incidentally. 

 I am thankful to God  for everything each day. For the love of my family, the fondest thoughts of my wife, my children’s musings for friends and for the very air that I breath. I don’t actually  look for the big things because  these are the biggest things.

The seemingly small things in my garden under the house terrace which pass by so easily unnoticed ar jewels hidden to the naked eye. The  color of the cherry leaves as they change their hue. The flash of  blue and green of bluejays and lovebrids on the Calliandra, the cold dewdrops, the ripening lemons, oranges, pomelos, amarillos and papayas or a hanging new ampalaya and a cluster of cherry tomatoes. All under a slow-rising golden sun made soft by the cool breeze from pine trees.

 
Each daybreak, a new set of gift is dropped by heaven.  yet to most, these are ordinary. ..but they make us live through the day

fully.

The Lesson Hidden by Greed in Boracay ….michael a. bengwayan..

 The Lesson Hidden by Greed in Boracay

….michael a. bengwayan..

Wittingly or unwittingly,  late rather than later,  better safe than sorry, we are all learning  from the Boracay fiasco. It is happening in most beaches, cities, towns, mountains, rivers, forests, lakes and other beautiful natural sights frequented by tourists.

But rather than speak of the much ballyhooed spins in most publications like loss of income, I’d like to delve on the irreversible damage done by  human greed through tourisms on Boracay. It is paradoxical that throughout human existence we have relied on the oceans – for food, economic opportunities and recreation yet made it our waste dump, with no care in the world, without respect and reverence to other creation of God.

With almost half the Philippine population  living within 100 kilometres of the country’s  36,289 kilometer coastline, it’s not surprising that our activities are taking their toll.  But tourism has increased human activity in our coasts. Human impacts have increased along with our rapid population growth, substantial developments in technology and significant changes in land use.,  Worst, pollution is most alarming and  Boracay  is now feeling this self-inflicted pain.

The sea where Boracay shore is, has become a dumping site of sludge  and sewage from human waste and human activities commercial run-off and chemicals. Such marine pollution major threatens life in the sea at all levels.

 

Through bioaccumulation – the process where levels of toxic chemicals in organisms increase as they eat each other at each successive trophic level,  the food web is endangered.

All marine pollution has the potential to seriously damage marine habitats and life in the sea. The pollution of Boracay, kills marine life and places extra stress on organisms that are already threatened or endangered.

The worst effect is nutrient pollution iin Boracay’s bay which results to eutrophication, harmful algal blooms, ”dead zones,” fish kills,  shellfish poisonings, loss of seagrass and kelp beds,  coral reef destruction, and even some marine mammal and seabird deaths. Nutrient over-enrichment of  the coastal ecosystem triggers ecological changes that decrease the biologi- cal diversity of  BOracy’s bay and estuaries.

The marked increase in nutrient pollution of coastal waters was observed in Boracay, accompanied by an increase in harmful algal blooms..

High nutrient levels and the changes they cause in water quality and the makeup of the algal community are detrimental to the health of coral reefs and the diversity of animal life supported by seagrass and kelp communi- ties.

Eutrophication, the result of a particular type of marine pollution  being contributed by the pollution in Boracay. It is caused by the release of  nutrients in polluted water from the coasts of Boracay from restaurants, hotels, food stalls all dumping sewage in pipes leading to Boracay bay. These nutrients lead to excessive phytoplankton growth that results in ‘blooms’. When these large numbers of organisms die, the sharp increase in decomposition of the dead organisms by oxygen-using bacteria depletes oxygen levels. In most cases, this can result in the death by oxygen starvation of large numbers of other organisms such as fish.

Too much human activity due to the millions of tourists yearly  in Boracay is increasing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to rise dramatically in that area. This impacts on the marine environment as the sea  absorbs as much  CO₂ emissions in the atmosphere. This absorption of CO₂ causes the pH to decrease, resulting in the seawater becoming more acidic.

The increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will result in higher levels of dissolved CO₂ in seawater. Even small changes in water pH can have big impacts on marine biology, causing ocean acidification as CO₂ is more soluble in colder water.

The fiasco of Boracay can have some redeeming value, if the people  of Boracay draw lessons from it and implement measures to insure that what happened there will not happen again, not just in Boracay but in all our resorts, they be along the shorelines, inland or mountainsides.

The situation in Boracay also took time to fester. Decay, after all, does not happen overnight and if acted upon with dispatch would never reach a point that assaults the senses and terrorizes the mind. Decay after decay piled on each other and created an intolerable condition. In fact, not until President Duterte intervened did the concerned government agencies and local businessmen were made to realize the state of decadence of that resort. Whoever tipped off the President did a civic duty to save the country’s vital resource.

It does not take a genius to know who is to blame and these should be made accountable under our laws. Unless they are punished, the fiasco in Boracay will be repeated elsewhere.

The government must learn too from this fiasco, primary of which is that negligence catches up in the long term. It is like a disease ignored, a cancerous cell that will eventually spread throughout the body to extract its price.

We hardly learn...

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