Toxins in water: Seven banned chemicals found in city’s watersheds- according to study
Davao City’s main sources of drinking water are contaminated by eight types of pesticides, seven of which are banned from use, the study by the Interface Development Interventions revealed.According to the study presented during a forum in Ateneo de Davao University yesterday, the sampled waters were taken from Panigan-Tamugan and Talomo- Lipadas and their junctions. “These are what we call persistent pollutants,” said toxicologist Romeo Quijano of UP Manila, meaning that these chemicals released years ago and banned after they were found to be harmful to humans and the environment. Traces of the banned pesticides dieldrin, aldrin, chlordane, heptachlor, lindane, endrin and DDT were discovered in the samples, he said. Quijano said that while there are ways to sequester chemicals from the water to make it potable, such as carbon filtration method, but it only works if the body of water contained the lowest concentration of toxic substances. Armand Pacudan, Mindanao operations manager of the Foundation for the Philippine Environment, said while the water’s toxicity levels are manageable, the communities and the ecosystem surrounding the watersheds are endangered. IDIS executive director Anne Fuertes said that their organization is finding it difficult to obtain consistent information that can then enable them to pinpoint from where exactly these chemicals are coming from, whether from nearby plantations or if they predate the plantations. “Although we are not in the business of pointing them out, we have to at least identify them,” she said of the plantations or factories operating near the watersheds. “Along with this is the proposal of how to make them find and use alternatives to chemical pesticides,” she said. The study was funded on a budget of P500, 000 from DKA Austria and the Misereor of Germany. Most of the money went to lab and field equipment. She said that with the results of the 8-month study, IDIS as well as other stakeholders are hoping the government; both national and local, can come up with policies to regulate and standardize the use and disposal of chemicals, as well put up consistent monitoring on the health of families in large plantations through multi-sectoral cooperation. (SALUD ISABEL PETALCORIN, Mindanao Times)
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.
MinDa told: Look into LGU initiatives
THE Interface Development Interventions (Idis) has urged the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) to make sure that the recently created riverway task force will look into the initiatives imposed in local government units (LGUs). MinDa created the Mindanao Riverways Reconstruction Task Force in a bid to assess the actual condition of major river systems after several parts of Mindanao was flooded when rivers overflowed last weekend. But Idis Executive Director Ann Fuertes, in a statement, said: “There is really a need to assess the island’s river systems, particularly from Bukidnon down to Davao in order to come up with an integrated plan for management and rehabilitation.” “However, the integrated plan should also include the community-drawn watershed action plans so that there will be synchronization of the efforts of all stakeholders towards solving this problem,” Fuertes added. She was referring to the Davao Watershed Action Planning Workshop, which was implemented by the Watershed Management Council last October 2012. The workshop gathered representatives from upland barangays and various sectors to draft action plans for the Talomo-Lipadas and Panigan-Tamugan watershed areas, the latter being a sub-catchment of Davao River. Fuertes said among the urgent points in the action plans is the need to establish a buffer zone along the river system to minimize flooding. Antidepressant Meds Relocating informal communities away from riverbanks remains to be a costly but necessary option, Fuertes said. Joan Barrera, Minda’s project development chief, said the task force will be composed of various key agencies of the government, including the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, National Economic and Development Authority, and Department of Interior and Local Government, among others. The project, which will start next month and will run until November this year, will be composed of three phases, with each phase covering specific regions across Mindanao. For the first phase, which will start in February 1, the team will assess 11 rivers in Davao Region, including five pre-identified rivers in Compostela Valley, and three rivers each in Davao Oriental and Davao del Norte. (ARIANNE CARYL N. CASAS, SUNSTAR DAVAO)