Environmental governance

We now have a term for it, although it might seem like a mouthful. The term is environmental governance.

The term applies to the conscious effort to build a critical mass of institutions and policies that will ensure that economic growth will not be at the expense of environmental degradation. We now have that critical mass.

Our achievement of that critical mass of institutions and policies for environmental governance was underscored earlier this week when the International Conservation Foundation conferred on President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo the prestigious Teddy Roosevelt International Conservation Award. She received that award on behalf of a nation that has put much work in protecting its complex and vulnerable island ecology.

Having worked these past years in the areas of renewable energy and commercial reforestation, I too feel honored by the international recognition of quality of our government’s environmental governance. Every Filipino should be justly proud.

The challenges we faced were numerous and grave. Decades of irresponsible logging reduced our forest cover by nearly 90%. Decades of absent policies caused widespread destruction of our coral reefs and the incredible biodiversity they hold. Over-fishing had actually pushed some species to the brink of extinction.

The prospects were, at one point, not very encouraging. Without a national land use plan legislated into place, our settlements were running awry. Population pressure was pushing communities onto perilous riverbanks, steep mountainsides and seafronts, making them vulnerable to calamities.

We had, before, very little resources to curb illegal fishing methods, regulate overfishing, drive away poachers and guard the reefs. Those resources for guarding the environment have been boosted.

President Arroyo, herself an avid deep-sea diver, set the direction towards environmental governance clearly and forcefully.

Since 2001, 24 new protected areas have been established. The new protected areas cover over a million hectares. The protected areas grew by 44.6% in only nine years to 3.46 million hectares or 11.5% of our total land area.

Among the new areas placed under protection during the past nine years are: Subic in Zambales, Panglao in Bohol, Samar Island, Northern Panay, Mt. Isarog in Camarines Sur, Tubbataha Reef in Palawan and Central Cebu. A total of 6,228 hectares of mangrove areas were rehabilitated during the past nine years.

The Development Bank of the Philippines played no small role in this effort. The multi-awarded DBP Forests program introduced a financial model that enabled commercial reforestation to be undertaken in nearly 30 areas, over half of them mangrove areas. It is a model of bank-assisted commercial reforestation that is being copied around the world.

The Philippines sits right smack in the middle of the coral triangle, which has the richest biodiversity in the world. The protection of that biodiversity is not just a national concern. It is a global concern.

In 2006, President Arroyo issued Executive Order 578 which enshrines national policy on biodiversity. This executive order revitalized the management of rich fish breeding grounds from the Sulu Celebes Sea to the Verde Island Passage, the area considered to be the center of marine shorefish diversity in the world.

The Philippines is a signatory and active participant in the management of the Coral Triangle along with Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Timor Leste. The nations bordering the Coral Triangle have the shared responsibility of caring for this unique and priceless natural heritage.

Most recently, President Arroyo issued Executive Order 282 protecting the whale shark. The order provides for the mapping of the migratory pathways, mandatory rescue and intensified prosecution of offenders.

From 2001 to 2009, the DENR reforested a total of 242,634 hectares. The reforestation effort increased the country’s forest cover to 24% of total land area. Last year, the President caused the allocation of P1.5 billion for reforestation, the biggest single year appropriation for forestry. The reforestation effort generated an estimated 48,492 jobs — a significant contribution to the economic stimulus effort as well.

Since 2001, government has confiscated 168,742 cubic meters of illegally cut forest products. Environment Secretary Horace Ramos says this is equivalent to the load of 6,750 ten-wheeler trucks. A total of 1,864 cases against illegal loggers have been filed.

Backed by the administration, a number of new laws protecting the environment were passed over the last nine years, These include: R.A. 9072 (2001) governing the management and protection of caves and cave resources; R.A. 9147 (2001), otherwise known as the Wildlife Act, providing for the conservation and protection of wildlife as well as their habitats; and R.A. 3751 which prohibits the destruction of plants and growing trees.

We, of course, have the most sophisticated mining law in the world, providing for sustainable development of the mining and quarrying sector. Under the framework of this law, $2.8 billion in mining investments flowed into our economy in 2009 alone.

I do not understand why a number of hate groups bothered to mount protests, objecting to the international recognition of our environmental governance. They have allowed their warped political prejudices cloud the facts on the ground.

Sure, there is a lot that still has to be done. But we are better rather than worse off after the past nine years. Instead of marching on the streets for purely partisan effect, these hate groups might serve us better if they planted trees where they could.