Has the Philippine environment improved in 2007? We all know
it is a difficult question to answer. But I think, despite this difficulty, the
Department of Environment and Natural Resources must answer the question because
it is this department that is mandated by law to inform the people of the
present status of the country’s environment. One of the ways to do this is to
commission credible and reputable individuals (and not just anybody) to
objectively assess the environment status.
Having been involved in environmental protection for a long
time, I continue to monitor the progress of environmental protection in the
country using certain indicators of environmental quality. Colleagues and
friends also share with me some information useful for assessing this quality.
About two months ago, I was told that the number of marine
protected areas in the country had increased to about a thousand from some 400 a
couple of years ago. This is well and good as numbers go, but are these areas
really working based on certain criteria or indicators? Indications are that
many are not. In fact, marine protected areas are one urgent issue to be given
attention because they have implications on the marine fish food supply that is
dwindling, driving the prices of fish to unaffordable levels. Our experience has
been that where a network of well protected marine areas exists, food fish
supply has been stable for many years. The indicators for situations like this
are large standing stock of fish and marine invertebrates inside marine
protected areas in southern Philippines. Unfortunately, only a few areas in the
country had these indicators in 2007. These are the shining examples of good
conservation work for the year.
On a visit to a remote forest area this month, I was told by
the active volunteer forest guards responsible for forest conservation that the
edges of forest fragments have regenerated as a result of protection against
forest poachers and that a nearly extirpated population of lesser hornbills has
increased in numbers during a period of three years. Images of this forest in
Goggle Earth tend to verify this report but quantification of the extent of
regeneration is still needed. This report would be an example of the use of
corridors to demonstrate progress in reforestation.
So, it can be asked again: Has the country improved its natural environment
in 2007? Your guess is as good as mine.
