Mitigating Problems on Climate Change in North Philippines(Part 1)
This is aggravated by a burgeoning population, mining, logging, and forest fires. With the declining forest cover, erosion easily occurs, observes Thomas Killip, presidential assistant for Cordillera. This is why when the rain comes, continues Killip, water flows down right away, carrying silt and forms into rampaging flashflood.
He also said that the deterioration of forest not only affects irrigation and domestic water supply but also sanitation, fisheries, livestock, crop production, and other livelihood industries that depend on the water from the Cordillera Mountains.
The occurrence of El Nino and La Nina, for instance, has demonstrated how detrimental a devastated environment in the Cordillera is for the people residing in North Luzon.
In several summers gone over the past decade, says Killip, the diminished supply of water in the region’s main rivers hardly flowed downstream, causing reduced water supply in the service areas of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA), mostly in rice and corn farms in Regions 1 and 2. This resulted in a reduction in grain production, which affected especially the people of Cordillera who depend on both regions for rice. And during the rainy months, the water flowing downstream in the rivers turns brown after 15 minutes of heavy downpour. This is a sign of heavy siltation and pollution in the river systems, according to Killip.
The continuous destruction of the forest and watersheds of the region is also attributed to unmitigated livelihood activities like vegetable farming, says Dr. Abraham Akilit, regional director of the National Irrigation Administration-Cordillera Administrative Region (NIA-CAR).
Take the case of the Mt. Data National Park, the headwaters of four river systems (Upper Agno, Upper Chico, Upper Amburayan, and Upper Abra) which traverse the CAR provinces. Mt. Data has a flatland area of 5, 512 hectares and its forest cover is almost gone.
Since 1952, Mt. Data National Park has been transformed into intensive vegetable farming communities. Today, almost the entire mossy forest vegetation and fauna in Mt. Data are removed, resulting in an ecologically disastrous situation where its unprotected slopes are exposed to severe erosion, and heavy use of synthetic fertilizers and other chemicals continues to contribute to environmental pollution. These later caused disease outbreaks, declining productivity, and intensive vegetable farming.
Based on the case of Mt. Data, it would appear that pursuing agricultural modernization and sustainability in Cordillera would be disastrous. This is not the case, argued Killip and Dr. Akilit.
Considering the importance of vegetable industry to the health of the nation and economy of the region, Cordillera shall remain as the country’s main source of vegetables. The first thing to do, according to Killip and Dr. Akilit, is to confine vegetable, crop, and livestock production in the areas where these exist until local residents have a plan for the various elevation and landscape range in the region.
What these people should do next is to establish an agro-forest-fishery ecological zones (AFFEZ) and specific strategic agriculture and fishery development zones (SAFDZ). These will contribute to the conservation of species diversity and rehabilitation of habitats on sloping lands, terraced lands, and flat lands. Development experts have already proposed this about 10 years ago, but unfortunately, their proposal did not materialize.
The establishment of SAFDZs in the region was first called for as part of the implementation of the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Act (AFMA), within the context of having agriculture and fishery modernization plans at both municipal and provincial levels.
The approach on AFFEZ planning and program implementation, on the other hand, was presented in the paper entitled “Rehabilitation and Management of Biological Landscape Diversity in the Cordilleras: Biophysical and Socio-economic Concern.” This was prepared by Dr. Joseph J.C. Madamba, Cordillera Highland Agriculture Resources Management (CHARM) Project consultancy group, Dr. Cameron P. Odsey, Dr. Rogelio Colting, Dr. Vicente P. Veracion, Dr. Darlyn D. Tagarino, and Dr. Magdalena Wanawan.
It compels rural development agencies to take a closer look at the Cordillera to make precise and appropriate recommendations and pursue meaningful and beneficial agricultural activities for the region and, at the same time, mitigate environmental problems whose effects might be aggravated by climate change. It also proposed to improve the capabilities of the communities in Cordillera to manage and administer their plans.
One of the interesting things that the authors highlighted in their paper is their delineation of the region’s landscape range of AFFEZ. In their delineation, areas in the region that are situated above 2,000 meters above sea level (MASL) are classified as AFFEZ 1 or high mountain zone, while areas found within 1,500-2,000 MASL belong to AFFEZ 2 or mid-mountain zone.
On the other hand, AFFEZ 3 or low mountain zone includes areas within 1,000-1,500 MASL, AFFEZ 4 or high hills zone covers areas within 5001,000 MASL, AFFEZ 5 includes areas situated within 100-500 MASL, and AFFEZ 6 covers lowland/coastal areas at 100 MASL and below.
Their delineation addresses the need for local development workers and residents to understand the region’s bio-physical makeup and prepare appropriate development plans because engineering designs, agricultural inputs, and program implementation would vary from one AFFEZ to another.
Hence, there is a need to determine what sets of alternatives are available to the farmers to help them make their livelihood competitive and sustainable. But what is happening today is that competitive agricultural technologies, programs, and policies suited for the lowlands are brought to the highlands through the government’s agricultural banner programs. In most instances, these do not fit into Cordillera’s biophysical makeup and do not address local needs.
Eventually, when highland farmers are unable to comply with the standards and requirements of these agricultural programs, these farmers, unlike their counterparts in the lowlands, are left on their own.
to be continued…
