18 container vans of logs held in Davao
DAVAO CITY—Operations against illegal logging continue, leading to the seizure on Friday of at least 18 container vans packed with hot lumber at a major port in this city. The National Anti-Illegal Logging Task Force seized the container vans at Sasa Wharf following the seizure of dozens of container vans with illegal lumber in Manila recently. Louie Ceniza, intelligence officer of the task force, said the seized container vans here could be part of a bigger shipment of illegal lumber destined for Manila. Authorities stepped up the campaign against logging after an angry President Aquino, during the anniversary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), declared war on logging syndicates, saying an executive order that he issued putting a stop to all forms of commercial logging is being challenged by logging syndicates. The President said he was “accepting the dare” of the syndicates. Last week, 55 container vans of hot lumber shipped from Davao were intercepted at North Harbor in Manila. Ceniza said the seized lumber on Friday was estimated to be worth at least P4 million. “The joint operation was a follow up to the one in Manila. The team will continue with the investigation and trace the consignees of the confiscated lumber,” Ceniza said. Following the President’s statement on logging, authorities intensified the government’s campaign against illegal logging, focusing on logging syndicates operating in Southern Mindanao and Caraga. More than 30 officials of the DENR in the two regions have been fired after Mr. Aquino said in his DENR speech that he knew of the connivance between logging syndicates and some DENR officials. The environment group Panalipdan, however, said the sacking of the DENR officials in Mindanao did not translate into “pogi points” for the President. Francis Morales, a leader of Panalipdan, said if the President really wanted to make a difference, he should start by removing Environment Secretary Ramon Paje. Morales said the government’s campaign to protect the environment would not be effective if only the small fry were removed from office. Ann Fuertes, executive director of the group Interface for Development Interventions, said her group was “happy” that there was an investigation going on and that it hoped justice would prevail for the environment and for innocent people. “It is high time that we strengthen our monitoring system, to involve the barangays and the local communities. Customs [officials] should be investigated, too, and be involved in the monitoring,” she said. (Ayan Mellejor and Germelina Lacorte, Inquirer Mindanao)
Groups launch the 2012 Lunhaw Awards for Davao’s best green initiatives
DAVAO CITY – The Interface Development Interventions, Inc. (IDIS), the Davao Association of Colleges and Schools (DACS), City Agriculturist’s Office (CAO), the City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) and the Davao City Water District (DCWD) are launching a citywide search to recognize outstanding practices in organic farming and environment-friendly initiatives. Named after the Cebuano word for ‘green’, the Lunhaw Awards seeks to recognize individuals, groups or communities which use innovative and sustainable ways of living which protect and nurture the environment. “This award seeks to recognize and honor the initiatives of the ordinary Dabawenyo, who believes in the vision of Green Davao, and thus finds ways to make the vision a reality.”, said Mary Ann Fuertes, IDIS Executive Director. A maximum of fifteen (15) awards will be given. Winners will be selected from three categories: individual household categorys (small), community-based/association (medium), and institutions/malls/hotels (large). Winning entries will be judged according to the following criteria: environmental benefits, economic benefits, use of renewable energy, replicability, durability and continuity, and innovation. The contest is open to Dabawenyos currently living in Davao City. Candidates may nominate their own green practices or else submit other entries which fit the search criteria. “We will award the winners during the citywide celebration of Organic Day in December 2012.”, said Fuertes. “The winners will receive P5,000.00 and a trophy, plus their stories will be promoted as green initiatives worth replicating in the City.” “We hope to sustain this as a yearly activity. In time, we hope to create a Davao City’s Hall of Fame for Best Practitioners in Environmentally Sound/ Sustainable Lifestyles where consecutive winners of the Lunhaw Awards will be enshrined.”, she added. “This will underscore the fact that Green Davao goes beyond the buzzwords and is actually a city of best green practices.” (#)
Organic farming advocates work with CAO to plan for the future of the Davao’s organic agriculture
DAVAO CITY – The future of Davao City’s organic farming is being laid out at the City Agriculturist Office. Organic farming practitioners and their advocates are meeting with the city’s Technical Committee on Organic Agriculture/ Organic Agriculture Management Council (TCOA-OAMC) this week to determine how to mainstream organic farming in the next five years. The most pressing questions include how to sustain the production of high quality organic products, and how to make organic farm produce more accessible to the public. Go Organic Davao City network member Ling Castro, of the Interface Development Interventions, said that they hope to have the 5 year strategic plan in place before the year ends. “Having a strategic plan for organic makes it even more of a commitment for Davao City to establish itself as the organic center in Southern Mindanao where organic farming communities are producing a sufficient supply of affordable organic produce and where these communities are patronized and supported by the local government and the public.”, she said. “This will also contribute to Davao’s vision of a green city where there is a confluence of sustainable initiatives and environment-friendly lifestyles.”, Castro added. Davao City already has more than 100 farmers practicing organic agriculture, excluding the indigenous upland farmers who grow crops using traditional techniques without the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. That number is expected to increase with implementation of the strategic plan as it will pave the way for the institutionalization of LGU support for organic farming. This includes the development and popularization of indigenous based organic farming techniques as well as the integration of organic agriculture promotion in local school curricula. Of late, Davao City’s agricultural lands have been drawing the interest of investors. Last month, CAO Officer in Charge Leo Avila revealed that Chinese investors are interested in establishing a vegetable farm in the areas of Waan, Mandug and Tigatto, and a dried mango processing plant. Go DC members are hopeful that these investments will be in the area of organic farming so that Davao’s small vegetable farmers,which comprise the bulk of organic farming sector, will be able to benefit from this as they will be able to touch base with the export market. Castro is optimistic about the results of the strategic planning. “Even if we’re just starting it now, the organic farming movement has already accomplished a lot in partnership with CAO. We’ve already begun to identify the initial organic farming zones as well as organic centers. These are small steps, to be sure, but this is why we are participating with the formulation of the OA strategic plan. We want to make sure that the policies are in place to ensure sustainability of Davao’s organic agriculture for years to come.”, she said. (#)
Watching the waters: the young guardians of Panigan River
DAVAO CITY – Once every month, on a Saturday , An-an Gumapac wakes up early to go down the river to take water samples. While most kids her age enjoy the extra hour or two in bed, Gumapac and a few of her friends make their way down to the foot of Mt. Tipolog in Barangay Tawantawan, Baguio District to take part in a community endeavour that has already taken three generations of villagers to implement. Their object of concern is the Panigan river. Meandering along the foot of the adjacent Mt. Tipolog, Panigan has been identified by the Davao City Water District as a future source of Davao City’s potable water which has been ranked as one of the best in the world. Locally, however, Tawantawan has long been dependent on Panigan for their domestic and recreational purposes. Long time residents have a deep affection for the river. Carrying a toolbox full of reagents, Gumapac and her group scatter around designated spots along the Panigan river to monitor changes in the river’s temperature and pH. Like any serious environmental scientist, they carefully measure the river’s dissolved oxygen, nitrate and phosphate content and observe the stream’s flow discharge. The data is then carefully tabulated in a notebook for synthesis and collation later. An-an enjoys the task. “ I enjoy the work.”, she said in the dialect. “Through monitoring, I have been able to make practical use of my science lessons at high school. It’s also important that the river stays clean because if it becomes dirty or polluted, we cannot use the water.” Gumapac represents the third generation of water watchers of the Bantayo Aweg. Her generation’s elders were the first batch of volunteers who took on the task of monitoring the health conditions of the river system to help protect the quality of the water. Begun in 2005, the Bantayo Aweg was an offshoot of a series of environmental trainings conducted by the advocacy group Interface Development Interventions. The name, taken from Bagobo dialect, means ‘water guardians’. It is a role that this group has taken into heart, judging by the fact that the monitoring has been consistent, since the year they have been founded. IDIS Environmental Research Specialist Ann Fuertes who, with Dr. Lourdes Simpol from Ateneo de Davao University and Dr. Ruth Gamboa from the University of the Philippines in Mindanao, helped train the pioneer batch in 2006, said that the initiative was to make the local community be better informed about the issues affecting their local river. “They depend on the river for a lot of things. By letting them at the forefront of monitoring efforts, they can best make decisions on how to tackle them.”, she said. But as Bantayo Aweg members usually find out , the monitoring isn’t always easy. Baneng Tiostumban, 24 yrs old, recalled nearly getting carried away by the strong river current, while taking measurements. “ When there is rain, the run-off coming from the uplands make for stronger currents. Sometimes it’ s so cold, that it takes us until noon to finish it all.”, he said. But despite this, Baneng continues to participate in the monitoring because not only does he finds it fun but their efforts have slowly been changing the bad habits of the communities using the river. “It used to be that people would throw broken bottles into the river.”, he said. “ There was also widespread use of chlorine during laundry activities. But since the water monitoring has started, the practice has declined because we convinced people to stop.” Now and then, there would be still be the occasional use of chlorine while washing clothes. “When we see that, we report them to our elders. The elder ones of the Bantayo Aweg are the ones who scold them because we are afraid to do so.”, he grinned sheepishly. To date, Bantayo Aweg has collected 6 years of water sampling data, creating a picture of the river’s quality over time. At a public presentation held at Lispher Inn , last March 22, 2012, the group presented their data to a group of local policymakers, government agencies and civil society organizations to commemorate World Water Day 2012. Aian B. Gumapac, who presented the graphs, pointed out that while most of the parameters measured show Panigan river still conforming to the Class AA standard which is the highest for clean water, the phosphate and nitrate content are of Class B and Class C standards. Under the standards used by the Environmental Management Bureau, Class B and C indicate that the water is only good for recreational purposes. “The river is still clear and has enough oxygen to support fishes but we are concerned about the level of phosphates and nitrates in the water.”, said Yan-yan. Fuertes, who helped Bantayo Aweg consolidate the data, said that high presence of phosphates and nitrates may be traced to the use of fertilizers and pesticides and the popular use of detergents along the upstream portions of the river. “There is a need to survey the different land uses of the areas around Panigan River to identify the possible sources of nitrate and phosphate contamination so that we are better equipped to find solutions to this recurring problem.”, Fuertes said. The area around the Tawantawan community is surrounded by banana and pineapple plantations whose intensive use of pesticides threaten to contaminate the river water through the run-off during the heavy rains which carry the agricultural inputs to the rivers. The absence of buffer zones , planted with proper trees, along the river banks, compound the problem. “Buffer zones are important because their trees absorb the water and silt coming from plantations and denuded areas.”, said Rey Sapid , Advocacy Officer of the Kinaiyahan Amumahon Panggaon ug Protektahan, Inc. (KAPPI). “Their roots trap the pesticides, ensuring that river waters are protected.” The KAPPI is an environmental paralegal group of farmers and lumads from the 3rd district which has taken up the advocacy of buffer
Panigan’s guardians
HAVING grown up with it throughout his life, twenty four-year-old Randy Legaspi has a deep affection for the Panigan river. During his childhood, the river was the place where he could take a quick swim and play around with his childhood friends. But today’s river is but a shadow of its former self. This is the reason why Legaspi, along with members of the Mt. Tipolog Bantay Kinaiyahan Association (MTBKA), began to be concerned about the slow deterioration of the river. This concern led him to join Bantayo Aweg, a community volunteer group which has been monitoring the quality of the river water for years now. Taken from the Bagobo term which means water guardians, the group is composed of volunteers from the community of Tawantawan, which is situated close to Panigan river. Once a month, rain or shine, this group takes water samples from the river as part of an ongoing community initiative to monitor water quality. Interface Development Interventions (IDIS) Environmental Research Specialist Ann Fuertes, who helped train the pioneer batch in 2005, said that the project was geared towards making the local community be better informed about the issues affecting their local river. “Despite the presence of basic services in the area, they still depend on the river for a lot of things. By putting them at the forefront of monitoring efforts, they can best make decisions on how to tackle them,” she said. So far, it has been working. Baneng Tiostumban, 24 years old and part of the second generation of Bantayo Aweg volunteers, can compare the state of Panigan river before and after the initiative was started. “Before Bantayo Aweg started, the river was a dumping ground for broken bottles. And villagers were using a lot of chlorine when washing in the rivers,” he said. Today, that practice has been discontinued. However, other threats continue to exist. “There is no more garbage but the river is still far from clean,” he said. “But if we work hard now, we can perhaps bring back the river to what it truly was years ago.” Bantayo Aweg has collected 6 years of water sampling data, creating a picture of the river’s quality over time. According to Fuertes, the Panigan river has still a long way to go before reaching Class AA, which is the highest ranking in quality for water. Basing on standards used by the Environmental Management Bureau, the organization’s data shows that the river generally falls under the Class A category which means that the river is still fit for drinking, despite the occasional periods of high phosphate and nitrite content. Note to all who care about sports. Indian bookmaker GBet (Gullybet) is running a generous promotion for new players and provides the best conditions on the market. Sign up and get bonus money and free spins on slots. Minimum deposit is $1 or equivalent in any other currency. This is good news for Davao City, according to the Davao City Water District. The DCWD has identified Panigan river and its sister tributary, Tamugan river, as the future source of Davao’s potable water which has been ranked as one of the best in the world. At the annual presentation of the group’s monitoring to the local barangay council last March 14, 2012, the DCWD was among the participants who listened to their presentation. DCWD, who also regularly conducts monitoring of the water quality among the rivers of the Panigan-Tamugan watershed area is hopeful that the initiative will continue on a long-term basis. “We commend the group’s initiative because it complements the efforts of the DCWD to create more awareness and stakeholdership on the issue of Davao City’s water resources. The more individuals and groups contributing towards the preservation of the quality of our waters, the more pressure for government agencies to implement policies to protect our waters,” said Anji Laura Grecia, a member of the DCWD’s Environmental Unit. But threats still remain. Tawantawan is surrounded by banana and pineapple plantations whose intensive use of pesticides threatens water quality. During heavy rains, the run-off from the plantations carries the agricultural inputs to the rivers. The absence of buffer zones, planted with proper trees, along the river banks, compound the problem. “Buffer zones are important because their trees absorb the water and silt coming from plantations and denuded areas,” said Rey Sapid, Advocacy Officer of the Kinaiyahan Amumahon Panggaon ug Protektahan, Inc. (KAPPI). “Their roots trap the pesticides, ensuring that river waters are protected.” The KAPPI is an environmental paralegal group of farmers and lumads from the 3rd district which has taken up the advocacy of buffer zone implementation for the district’s remaining forest and water resources. “And yet, most of the plantations in the 3rd district, have not been implementing or have been implementing buffer zones which are contrary to what is mandated by law,” Sapid said. The Watershed Code of Davao City requires that a buffer zone of about 40 meters must be established between plantations and critical areas such as recharge zones, riverbanks, rivers, springs, wells and other sources of water. KAPPI, which also has members in Tawantawan, is now actively engaging in an information campaign about the importance of buffer zones in protecting the rivers. Meanwhile, all this support has made Legaspi thankful. “We’re glad that this initiative is doing its share to contribute to the greater campaign for the preservation of Davao’s water. We hope that as we continue to do this yearly, more communities along the rivers will be encouraged to be vigilant and protective of our water resources,” he said. For IDIS, which has made it its advocacy to campaign for clean water and healthy watersheds, there is still much to be done in the preservation of the river. “We need to adopt a watershed approach since the Panigan river is not an isolated system. We need the cooperation of all stakeholders, from farming communities to even plantations along the watershed area. Monitoring can be a start, but it’s the
Environmentalists warn of toxic river
DAVAO CITY—Rising levels of nitrate and phosphate in a river that drains into one of the city’s major sources of drinking water are prompting environmentalists to raise health concerns here. If not immediately addressed, the high levels of nitrate and phosphate could degrade water quality at Panigan River and may cause health problems to water consumers here, said one of the environmental groups, Bantayo Aweg, a Bagobo term for water guardians. Aian Gumapac of Bantayo Aweg said a six-year monitoring they conducted on the water in Panigan River, an important catchment basin for the city’s aquifer, showed that its nitrate level has gone up to 2.53 milligrams per liter, higher than the allowable 1 mg per liter for top quality water; while phosphate level was at 0.23 mg per liter, which is higher than the 0.1 mg per liter for top quality water category. Under the standards used by the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the level of nitrate in Panigan River placed its water quality in the Class C category while its phosphate content placed it under the EMB’s Class B category, which makes water good for “recreational purposes only.” Gumapac said their study showed that except for the rising nitrate and phosphate levels, the river’s color, temperature, dissolved oxygen content and water acidity were still within the ideal range for water organisms to survive. But Gumapac said the situation could worsen if the contaminants were not addressed from its source. “The river is still clear and has enough oxygen to support fishes but we are concerned about the levels of phosphate and nitrate in the water,” said Gumapac. Ann Fuentes, environment research specialist for Interface Development Intervention, said the high level of phosphate and nitrate found in the river could have come from pesticides and fertilizers. Gumapac said monocrop plantations and small farms dotted the river. Gumapac said the solution to the rising levels of nitrate and phosphate is to implement the city’s watershed code, which banned single crop plantations and farms from the watershed areas or its periphery. City Agriculturist Leonardo Avila admitted that the code, approved in 2008, has yet to be fully enforced. (Germelina Lacorte, Inquirer Mindanao)