EDITORIAL – Protecting the Earth

It’s a telling reminder of the state of the planet that even the area considered to be the site of the Biblical Garden of Eden is rapidly disappearing. As the world marked Earth Day yesterday, experts reported that the so-called Fertile Crescent – the marshlands shared by northern Iraq and Syria – continued to disappear at an alarming rate.

The United Nations Environment Program had alerted the world two years ago that up to 90 percent of the marshlands, which serve as home to rare species, was gone, with another 325 square kilometers dried out as of 2000. With the Middle East mired in armed conflict, this rapid depletion of a precious natural resource is unlikely to be reversed soon.

The fate of the Biblical garden is testament to the difficult challenges facing those who are trying to prevent further long-term destruction of the Earth’s dwindling resources. The Phi-lippines faces many of these challenges. The country’s rainforests continue to be depleted due to indiscriminate development, illegal logging and slash-and-burn farming. Poaching and dynamite fishing are destroying coral reefs. The destruction of natural habitats is pushing several indigenous animals, plants and marine life to the brink of extinction. And the country has inadequate resources to arrest the trend.

In Metro Manila and other urban centers, air and water pollution as well as inefficient solid waste management are taking their toll on the quality of life. Tap water is no longer safe to drink, forcing people to buy drinking water or invest in costly household filtration systems. Those who can’t afford them risk contracting water-borne diseases. Efforts to encourage garbage segregation and recycling have failed to get off the ground. Indiscriminate dumping of garbage has aggravated flooding. Health care costs are rising due to worsening air pollution.

Over the years global awareness has grown of the benefits of a clean environment, protected natural habitats and sustainable development. But there is still much work ahead before gardens can bloom in many parts of this abused planet.