Animals, some rare, now threatened by poisonous chemicals in Davao watersheds
Davao City – A team of wildlife researchers from the Philippine Eagle Foundation, Inc. (PEF) has found that the remnant of lowland dipterocarp forests in the Talomo-Lipadas and Panigan-Tamugan (TL-PT) Watersheds, the current and future source of Davao’s drinking water, is the habitat of some twenty eight species that can only be found in the Philippines. “We were able to document 171 vertebrate species, 28 of which are endemic to the Philippines”, said lead researcher PEF Conservation Director Jayson Ybanez who presented the study at the Ateneo de Davao University last April 15, 2013. The survey is part of the TL-PT Watershed Resource and Socio-Economic Profile, which aims to provide technical information to help stakeholders identify and plan the most cost effective way to protect and manage the watersheds. The study revealed that the TL-PT Watersheds is home to the Philippine eagle, the Tarictic hornbill, the rare Mindanao montane racquet tail, the Mindanao scops forest owl, the Mindanao fruit bat, the Philippine flying lemur and the Philippine pygmy squirrel. The team also observed at least two critically endangered tree species as classified by the IUCN. These are the White miranti and the Tanguile species. The Interface Development Interventions, Inc. (IDIS) which commissioned the study under a grant from the Foundation for the Philippine Environment (FPE) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) said that the findings underscore the importance of the TL-PT watersheds. “The richness of the biodiversity in the remaining forest cover of the watersheds should impel every Dabawenyo to protect the watersheds. As reservoirs of biodiversity, these forests are essential to the survival of our endemic species.”, said IDIS Executive Director Ann Fuertes. However, unsustainable agriculture, illegal logging and population pressure continue to threaten these fragile habitats and may force twenty eight of these species into extinction, according to the report. “One of the threats that we found out is that slowly, banana plantations and farms are slowly encroaching towards the forest, even in areas which are considered environmentally critical areas as defined in the Watershed Code.”, said Ybanez. In addition, with only the Malagos watershed as the sole remaining lowland forest that can support these species, it may take some time before the current reforestation initiatives bear fruit and allow these species to thrive again in the watersheds. The proponents of the research urge that a more holistic and inclusive approach should be undertaken in order to conserve the remaining species and habitats and to sustainably rehabilitate the deforested slopes. This include the use of convergence-building efforts which promote open, participative and effective processes in addressing issues of conservation and resource management. “Adaptive management would be a good scheme, wherein interventions are considered experiments where you refine your way of doing conservation and through that, all of your partners learn through doing.”, said Ybanez. ( MINDANAO DAILY MIRROR)
LUNHAW AWARDS 2013 expands search to include more categories
Davao City – This year’s search for green initiatives has been expanded to include more categories, according to the co-organizers of the Lunhaw Award. Launched last Friday during the Araw ng Dabaw festivities, the search for this year’s best green initiatives will run the whole year and culminate in the city’s foundation day in 2014. The Interface Development Interventions, one of the Award co-organizers, said that the change meant more initiatives in Davao City can be recognized. “Organic farming practitioners comprised most of the awardees for 2012. This year, we hope that green initiatives from other sectors will be recognized and highlighted in the next batch of Lunhaw Awardees.”, said IDIS Executive Director Ann Fuertes. For 2013, the search will now include initiatives coming from the areas of Education/Advocacy, Waste Management, Pollution Control, Energy ,and Forest-based Initiatives. “The inclusion of the new categories underscore our support for Davao City’s thrust to provide an environment which is healthy and sustainable for its residents. Davao is a trailblazer in terms of the number of environmental ordinances passed; this Award serves to strengthen the current policy direction by highlighting the successful green practices of its citizens.”, Fuertes said. Organized by the City Agriculturist’s Office (CAO), the City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO), Davao Association of Catholic Schools (DACS), Davao City Water District (DCWD) and IDIS last 2012, the Lunhaw Award seeks to recognize initiatives by individuals or groups which use innovative and sustainable practices to protect the environment. The contest is open to initiatives which have been practiced in the city for a minimum of two years. Entries are judged according to the following criteria: Environmental and Economic Benefits, Use of Renewable Energy, Replicability, Sustainability and Innovation. The winners will be announced next year during the 2014Araw ng Dabaw celebrations. Each Lunhaw Awardee will be receive P5,000.00, a trophy and a bag of organic goodies. Nomination forms can be obtained from the offices of the organizers or downloaded at https://idisphil.org/lunhaw-awards. (#)
World Water Day 2013: Summit launches grassroots-led initiative to protect Davao’s water resources
Davao City – Davao City’s Watershed Management Council (WMC) deputized 42 upland farmers to monitor and report environmental violators in Mt. Tipolog, in the Panigan-Tamugan watershed, this week during a Watershed Summit in celebration of World Water Day. The Summit, which was organized by Interface Development Interventions (IDIS), was supported through a grant from the U.S. Embassy Manila’s United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in partnership with the Foundation for the Philippine Environment (FPE). The event, which gathered together provincial government representatives, and officials from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and representatives of local citizens groups who are concerned about Davao’s watersheds, was aimed at strengthening partnerships among and between government and non-governmental organizations to improve the protection and management of water resources. In a message delivered at the event by a representative of USAID, U.S. Ambassador Harry K. Thomas, Jr. said, “Managing watersheds, and the environmental services they provide, helps build ecological resilience and supports livelihoods for Filipinos. The livelihood opportunities that these efforts create, in turn encourages broad-based and inclusive economic growth, which is a shared goal under the U.S.-Philippines Partnership for Growth (PFG).” IDIS Executive Director Ann Fuertes said, “This is the first batch of Bantay Bukid volunteers who will be deputized by the Davao City Government to become local protectors of the environmental. Hopefully, they can encourage other forest communities to participate in the management and protection of their forest resources by forming similar groups to safeguard the integrity of all of Davao’s eight watersheds.” The Panigan-Tamugan watershed is one of the sites of a USAID-funded project entitled” Up-scaling Forest Restoration Efforts in Key Biodiversity Areas.” FPE and IDIS are implementing this project in Davao to improve biodiversity conservation in selected areas through forest protection and restoration. The idea for the “Bantay Bukid” volunteers springs from the recognition that forest guards play a crucial role in the protection and sustainable use of forest resources. The Watershed Summit gave participants the opportunity to learn about best practices on watershed management and preservation. Highlights included the presentation of watershed management action plans for the Talomo-Lipadas and Panigan-Tamugan watersheds, the current and future sources of Davao’s drinking water. “This Summit is very timely since 2013 has been designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Water Cooperation. We are proud to highlight the innovative local initiatives that demonstrate cooperation among stakeholders for better water resource management. With each having different needs and priorities with regard to water use, it is essential that we all work together to achieve a sustainable and beneficial use of our water,” Fuertes said. (#)
ECC process flawed, according to envi NGO
DAVAO CITY – The sudden issuance in a conditional Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) to the Sagittarius Mines, Inc. (SMI) project in Tampakan, South Cotabato is symptomatic of the weakness in the country’s environmental law, said the Interface Development Interventions, Inc. (IDIS). IDIS Executive Director Ann Fuertes took to task the latest procedural manual of the Philippine Environmental Impact System (EIS) which she said is viewed by many environmentalists as “ a step backward in terms of environmental regulation.” “This ‘conditional ECC’ is the result of a streamlined EIS process which was made possible by a the revision of a DENR Department Administrative Order , resulting in a law that is biased for investment.”, Fuertes said. In 2010, IDIS commissioned the Sentro ng Alternatibong Panligal (SALIGAN) to conduct a legal study on the impact of the revised Implementing Rules and Regulations of the EIS system. The study, which was funded by the Foundation for the Philippine Environment (FPE), compared the current DENR Department Administrative Order (DAO) 30-2003 with its previous iteration, the DAO 37-96. According to the study, DAO 30-2003 differed from DAO 37-96 in that it lacked teeth to enforce the mandatory requirements in the issuance of an ECC. “In particular, the study found out that DAO 30-2003 had significantly weakened the provisions which were designed to strengthen public participation and social acceptability in environmental projects.” , Fuertes revealed. As an example, Fuertes pointed out that DAO 30-2003 has removed the mandatory nature of public hearings, relegating the decisions to conduct a hearing to the Environment Management Bureau (EMB) – a scenario that most development workers are not comfortable with. “The study even interviewed respondents which revealed that these public hearings- or scoping sessions, as they call them- are often token in nature with facilitators asking only safe questions.”, she said. To compound the problem, the DAO has also changed the definition of stakeholders to mean only the entities who are directly and significantly affected by the project or undertakings. “This means that other communities or groups who are affected but not in a direct manner are considered outsiders and excluded from the consultation process.”,she said. “As it stands, the DAO 30-2003 seems to promote an investment-friendly climate rather than a preventive approach in ensuring that the project will not cause a significant negative environmental impact.” Fuertes called on the Aquino administration to revise the law. “We need to amend the EIS law to ensure that it goes back to its original intent which is to uphold the precautionary principle. By doing this, we ensure that the EIS law becomes preventive and not prescriptive. Only then can we prevent other destructive, resource extractive and socially unacceptable projects from operating in the country in the future.”, she said. (#)
Exec policy on aerial spray ban pushed
ANTI-AERIAL spraying activists, commemorating the 6th anniversary of the passage of the Davao City Anti-Aerial Spraying Ordinance, asked the Aquino administration on Thursday to issue a definite executive policy on the banning of the dangerous agricultural practice in Mindanao’s monocrop plantations. “Since 2010, several national inter-agency meetings have already been conducted to discuss the issue and come up with a unified policy but until now, there is still no official government stand on this controversial issue,” said Mary Ann Fuertes, executive director of Interface Development Interventions (Idis). Idis has been supporting the Mamamayan Ayaw sa Aerial Spraying (Maas) grassroots campaign against aerial spraying in plantations in Southern Mindanao. According to Fuertes, President Benigno Aquino III had instructed the Presidential Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD) to take the lead in coming up with recommendations, but until now it has yet to issue its report. “We were told that the PCSD had decided to conduct a cost-benefit study of the aerial spraying practice to aid them in making their policy recommendations. And yet, as of December 2012, there is still no study being conducted since it still lacks funds from the DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources),” she said. But for Maas president Dagohoy Magaway, the PCSD’s insistence on the conduct of another study seeks to reduce this issue to a question of economics. “Why is the government focusing on the economic aspects of this case when the real issue here is our right to a clean and healthy environment?” Magaway said. Maas and its supporters are against aerial spraying because the pesticide drift coming from the spray planes often hits the communities situated near monocrop plantations, contaminating the water supply and causing sickness in the local population. Magaway pointed out that even the Department of Health (DOH) has released a study documenting the negative impact of pesticide drift on the health of the residents in the communities. The DOH study was also instrumental in convincing the Commission on Human Rights to also issue their resolution supporting the recommendation to ban aerial spraying in plantations. Both national agencies issued their recommendations during the Arroyo and Aquino administrations but until now, no direct action has been undertaken. “Do not reduce us to merely an economic issue. More than anything, this is an issue of human rights,” Magaway said. “Environmental justice must be served.” Both groups are appealing to President Aquino to issue an executive order for a temporary moratorium while the PCSD impact study is being conducted.
Davao’s watersheds home of PH’s endemic bird species
DAVAO CITY – SEVENTY percent of the Philippine inventory of endemic bird species has been confirmed to be living in the Mt. Talomo-Panigan watershed area. Results from a recent study conducted by the Philippine Eagle Foundation, Inc. (PEF) revealed that the watershed is home to at least 124 bird species as studied in a series of field surveys conducted from 1997-2012. The Philippines has currently 169 endemic bird species on record, 45 of which are found only in Mindanao. According to the report, 66 of the 124 species which were covered by the research study are Philippine endemic, while 24 of them are Mindanao endemic. This led the study authors to conclude that the watersheds hold an “impressive” percentage of local avian fauna. The study was commissioned by the Interface Development Interventions, Inc. (IDIS) using funds coursed from the USAID through the Foundation for the Philippine Environment (FPE). IDIS Executive Director Ann Fuertes said that this significant find underscored the importance of Davao’s watersheds in protecting and sustaining a rich biodiversity of organisms that can only be found in the Mindanao region. “Healthy watersheds are a vital reservoir of biodiversity which must be protected in order to sustain our local flora and fauna,” she said. Other than the Philippine Eagle, the report also identified that the Tarictic or Mindanao hornbill, Penelopides panini, is the second most threatened bird in the watersheds due to illegal pet trade and because it is also being hunted for food. According to the report, “four species are ‘vulnerable’, including the Silvery kingfisher Alcedo argentata, an inhabitant of clean and forested streams, and the Mindanao scops owl Otus gurneyi, a forest owl found only in Mindanao.” Dwindling forest cover has contributed much to the decline of the local populations. “While deforestation continues to be a major factor in the degradation of the bird habitats, the presence of unsustainable and unregulated economic, domestic and agricultural activities has also contributed to the destruction of these birds foraging and breeding areas.”, Fuertes said. The Talomo-Panigan watershed areas along with the adjacent Lipadas, are also the sites of aquifers which provide the current and future water supply of Dabawenyos. In recent years, corporate plantations have expanded into the area, clearing the fertile forest land to grow bananas and pineapples for export. Fuertes hopes that this discovery will spur more Dabawenyos to actively protect the remaining forest cover and to rehabilitate the cleared-out areas. “It’s important that Dabawenyos should come together to produce a collaborative multi-stakeholder watershed plan wherein different and sustainable courses of action will be identified by stakeholders to ensure an environmentally and economically healthy watershed,” she said. Among the potential economic benefits resulting from this study is the development of community led ecotourism activities along the watershed area. “Bird watching tours have been touted as the next best thing in attracting international and domestic tourists,” she said. In 2010, the Department of Tourism has announced that birdwatching tours are the next best thing in Philippine tourism. As a biodiversity hotspot, the Philippines has over 600 bird species with a high concentration of bird species per kilometer.