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Living on the edge: Deforestation, mining and unpredictable weather in the Philippines
30 Jun 2008
By Diwa Aquino-Gacosta
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Changing weather, deforestation and the environmental effects of mining are hurting Palawan residents
World Vision is supporting reforestation, raising awareness and helping communities to organise themselves |
“The weather has become so unpredictable,” says tribal leader, Panglima (chieftain) Fernandez Gasang.
Panglima Fernandez is a Palaw’on, one of the indigenous groups in Palawan that have been pushed to live in the upper slopes of Mt. Mantalingahan due to the growing number migrants in the municipality of Brookes Point in Southern Palawan in the Philippines.
Living on a modest income from farming and harvesting timber products, Panglima Fernandez is worried as to what the changing weather could do to their livelihood.
“We’ve been experiencing very hot weather lately. I’m afraid that the prolonged summer heat could dry up the cogon grasses in the upper portion of the mountain and lead to forest fires,” he laments.
“Amid the very hot weather, there has been a sudden rain that caused the Tigaplan River to overflow. That’s the first time that I’ve experienced strong rains in March,” Panglima Fernandez says.
The surging waters have damaged the bridge that connects the village of Mainit to the town of Brookes Point.
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Mining operations, such as on Mount Gotok, provide local employment but can have damaging effects on the local environment.
Photo by Diwa Aquino-Gacosta.
©2008 World Vision International |
Delayed planting season
“Our planting of rice has been delayed because the heavy rains last March have drenched the cogon grasses,” explains Nadiel Kasim, a Muslim leader in Sitio Kaluntod in Barangay (village) Iwahig in the neighboring municipality of Bataraza.
Normally, during the peak of the summer season that occurs in the months of March and April, the villagers burn the cogon grasses that have grown during the rainy season. The land is then cleared and tilled for planting.
 We realised that if we did not plant trees to rehabilitate the mountain, we would suffer even more  |
“Usually by April, all the land has been cleared, so that by May we could already start planting rice. But still now [in June], there are still some areas that have not been cleared,” says Nadiel.
The delayed planting season has put a lot of pressure to Nadiel as the sole breadwinner in the family. Two of Nadiel’s six children are sponsored by World Vision.
“In the coming months, I may need to find other means to earn money,” he said.
A limestone quarry has provided employment to most of the villagers in the villages of Iwahig and Sandoval. Unfortunately, the once towering Mount Gotok, home to some of Southern Palawan’s endemic species of plants and animals for its virginal forests, has been deeply scarred by such mining.
The limestone from the local quarry is transported to the nearby village of Rio Tuba to neutralize sulfuric acid used in producing nickel from low grade ore extracted from open pit mines.
World Vision helping
World Vision is working to promote local environmental stewardship.
“We have not appreciated the trees that we planted more than now,” says Panglima Fernandez.
According to Panglima Fernandez, when a number of tribal elder asked the assistance of World Vision to rehabilitate some portions of Mount Mantalingahan in 1996, they were greeted with resistance from their fellow community members.
“For us, our land is our life. We have been displaced a number of times. But this land is the land of our ancestors that is why we need to fight for it and protect it. That is why most of my co-villagers were wary about the project. They thought that it would again rob us of our ownership of our land,” explains Panglima.
“But the forest is being depleted. We realised that if we did not plant trees to rehabilitate the mountain, we would suffer even more,” he says.
Panglima was able to convince his villagers. Starting with a few seedlings of timber and fruit-bearing trees, the indigenous people in the village of Maiinit were able to reforest 10 hectares of the mountain with close to a million trees.
| World Vision has helped a lot in awakening the minds of the residents here |
“It was the biggest and most successful reforestation project in Palawan. The community was able to sustain it even after the project ended. The community agreed that they are only allowed to cut trees that are mature provided that they ask permission from the Department of Natural Resources and plant another tree in place of the one they harvest,” explains former World Vision coordinator in Brookes Point, Bernadette Tejada.
“If not for the trees, there would be more flooding in the lower portion of Brookes Point,” says Panglima.
Local advocacy
The reforestation project has also helped increase the awareness of both the upland and lowland communities in Brookes Point on environment protection. Such awareness helped unite the residents of Brookes Point to vigilantly stand against the mining exploration in their municipality, a lesson learned, they say, from the ill effects of mining operation in the neighboring municipality of Bataraza.
The strong anti-mining advocacy efforts of the residents of Brookes Point has influenced the entire province of Palawan to discuss the mining issue at the national level.
“A big portion of the mountain [Mount Mantalingahan] has already been destroyed. But what can we do? We are so small compared to these mining companies,” laments Celli*, an area leader in Bataraza whose two children are sponsored by World Vision.
“They [the companies] have already bought our Ulahan [Muslim chieftains] with tractors and farm animals,” she adds.
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Decades of limestone extraction have scarred Mount Gotok.
Photo by Diwa Aquino-Gacosta.
©2008 World Vision International |
“Climate change could really exacerbate the threats to our fragile ecosystem here in Palawan. As you know, this narrow strip of island is rich in both land and marine resources. You damage the mountain, the effects would flow down to the sea, destroying everything on its path, including our marine resource,” explains Danilo Gonzales, the chief officer of the waterworks system in Brookes Point.
“World Vision has helped a lot in awakening the minds of the residents here. True, they’ve made enemies in the process. But their contribution in changing the minds and attitudes of the people cannot be understated,” he adds.
Gonzales also emphasised the importance of responsible governance, “We know that all our actions, all our decisions, have corresponding consequences.”
Mount Mantalingahan straddles across five municipalities in the south of Palawan, including Brookes Point and Bataraza. Hence, the growing concern to protect the mountain and the mounting opposition against mining activities in the province have been among the biggest victories the people of Brookes Point and World Vision in Palawan achieved so far. Yet the battle against mining continues.
*name changed to protect identity
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