Save RP's biodiversity, government urged

The Ecological Society of the Philippines (ESP) is reiterating its call for the government to protect our remaining rainforest and preserve the country’s biodiversity.

“The year has just started and already, flash floods ravaged some areas in Mindanao,” ESP president Antonio M. Claparols said.

Claparols was reacting to the calamity that hit northern and northeastern Mindanao last week.

“Mindanao is known as The Land of Promise with its biodiversity and pristine virgin forests. But illegal logging continues to be rampant in the area and it is destroying our forests, the so-called lungs of our planet,” Claparols added.

The ESP president is urging the government to strictly enforce existing laws against illegal logging and launch a massive reforestation campaign.

“Or else we will continue to become victims of flash floods,” Claparols warned. “Let us not make things worse.”