Sep. 6, 2018
Cubao, Auezon City
Iced Glacier because of Global warming (Photo provided)
"While
global environmental bodies are intent on planting trees and saving the
remaining forests in an eleventh-hour bid to restrain global warming, our very
own environmental authorities have instead done the opposite," said Fr.
Pete Montallana, chairperson of the Save Sierra Madre Network Alliance (SSMNA).
"We
should be able to trust that the Department of Environment and Natural
Resources -- with all its studies, expertise and resources -- would lead
efforts to mitigate climate change, But instead, what we are getting is the
opposite," the Franciscan priest said.
Late
in August, the DENR relaxed its own rules on the cutting and relocation of
trees affected by the construction of government roads, bridges and flood
control dikes.
In an
order dated July 18, Cimatu shifted the responsibility of issuing tree-cutting
permits from the 16 regional DENR chiefs down to the 140 community environment
and natural resources officers across the nation.
The
DENR made the revision in a bid to fast-track infrastructure projects of the
Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), after a Commission on Audit
report blamed delays in the processing of tree-cutting permits for the slow
implementation of the “Build Build Build” program.
A
2017 COA report revealed that about P73.4 billion worth of infrastructure
projects under “Build, Build, Build” were either delayed, suspended, terminated,
or not implemented. It cited delays in the processing of tree-cutting permits
as one of the reason.
But
Montallana condemned the DENR chief's move, saying that by easing tree-cutting
rules he was in effect ditching his main task.
"The
DENR's mandate is very clear," Montallana said, noting that this mandate
is plainly stated in the agency's own website."The DENR is the primary
agency responsible for the conservation, management, development, and proper
use of the country’s environment and natural resources, specifically forest and
grazing lands," the priest said, reading out the mandate.
Scientists
note that deforestation produces about 24% of global greenhouse gas emissions
and is the second leading cause of global warming. In fact, tropical rainforests, deforestation
adds more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere than that produced by all the cars
and trucks on the world’s roads.
"To
stem climate change, the top recommendations
of scientists are 'leave forests standing' and 'plant more trees,'
" Montallana notes. "We don't have to be rocket scientists to realize
that the DENR's move is very wrong," he adds.
The
Franciscan priest noted that when typhoon Yolanda hit the country in 2013, with
wind speeds of 315kph, 10,000lives were lost and damage to property and to the
country’s economy has been estimated to be at least P650 billion ($13 billion).
This monstrous
damage occurred when global temperature rise was 0.8 ̊C, Montallana said,
warning that a 1.5 ̊C rise -- which
scientists have said we are about to reach -- will surely bring storms with far
higher wind speeds.
Over
the past decades, scientists have warned that our increasing use of fossil
fuels is adding heat-trapping gases to the earth’s atmosphere, causing mountain
glaciers and ice masses to melt, sea levels to rise, plant blooming to shift
and extreme weather to occur -- including stronger and more frequent storms.
"Will
the gains of the Build, Build, Build program far outweigh the costs of damages
and the lives lost from another more powerful super typhoon -- one that is just
waiting to occur, as we are moving closer to 1.5 degrees centigrade?" the priest
asked. (By JONG CADION with PR from SAVE
SIERRA MADRE NETWORK ALLIANCE INC.)
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