The Philippines is a tropical country which lies 21º to 4º north latitude and 116º to 127º east longitude. It is in the typhoon belt. Geologists say that the Philippine archipelago was a part of the land mass, which rise from the ocean in the Miocene period some 25 to 5 millions years before the coming of Christ. Although it took several million years more to cover the islands with soil, which can support vegetation, ancient marine fossils is still found in the highest levels of Bohol like Mayana in Jagna. As biology would have it, accumulated soil is thick mostly on the levels while on the peaks and slopes are held there by vegetation.
Storms born in the central Pacific hit the country starting from the early days of June until the last days of December. Except for El Niño years, dry season is relatively short. Protective cover of thick vegetation on higher levels prevents soil from being washed down. Forests held back excess precipitation, topography channeled run offs down through natural waterways to the sea. Except for the plains in the larger islands, flooding was a rare experience those days.
When Spain sold the Philippines to the United States in 1898 the population of the country was only 20,000,000. From then on Philippine population grew fast, too fast for comfort. Uncontrolled, population is expected to reach 130,000,000 in 2025. As population grows, it must make demands on the environment. Productive farms are converted to subdivisions and malls. Forests have to be cut down to be converted to farms to tack up the slack in food production. Hillsides are denuded to feed the ever growing wood or charcoal burning stoves.
Not only that. Waterways are either polluted by industry or clogged up to convert water courses into living space. When the rains come, the root system of the dwindling vegetation can no longer hold the soil together for long, the run which seek the natural water ways will create other courses if clogged... Unimpeded rains cause flash floods. Those held by the soil continue to be absorbed until the base can no longer bear the water soaked burden and a mud or landslide is unleashed.
Many blame the calamities to climate change but it may not always be true. These disasters took more than a century and a half to occur. Constant demands on the environment without giving it a change to recover or rehabilitate itself would surely prove disastrous. Barren hillsides can not recover without aid. Erosion would not allow that. A fast growing tree takes ten years to mature; hardwoods may take twice as long... And it takes only an hour to cut it down. It may be a long while when we will reach the point of no return but to restore our resources to its once productive level even as of bow will be a long hard climb.
Environmental rehabilitation may involve several aspects. Economic reforms, equal distribution of wealth and opportunities will allow those who make heavy demands on the environment for a living to look elsewhere. However the wealthy and the privileged may not agree. They would like to preserve their lofty status at the expense of the great unwashed. Sociological reforms like population control if it falls under that category would not be favored by some. We are now earning a name of producing economic refugees. We must put a stop to that. |
