Musings and Convergence: Experiencing the 1st Philippine Environment Summit

FINALLY, the first Philippine summit on the environment came to fruition.  The rest is history!  This historic summit did not come easy.  I can still vividly remember, after coming back from 2014 General Assembly of the Maryknoll Sisters in October, when Green Convergence (GC), President Dr. Nina Galang, came to see me at Maryknoll Sisters Burgos convent, asking me to facilitate a planning session of the GC Board of Directors, all seasoned environmentalists in the Philippines.  Green Convergence Philippines is a coalition of environmental NGOs and individual affiliates with the vision: One Vision, One Earth.  Albeit hesitant of my capacity as an environmentalist in training and having just come back to Manila, I said YES to the invitation.  The three-day planning in October 2014 marked the birthing of the idea of the Philippine Environment Summit.  Two years passed: a very slow, difficult and challenging planning for the summit ensued. We had one huge challenge: Getting the funding needed for the summit. 

Then a breakthrough came in September 2015, after a meeting with Secretary Ramon Paje, of Department of Environment and Natural Resources of the Philippines (DENR).  He was quite excited and in full support of the idea of the Philippine Environment Summit.  He supported the idea that the summit’s purpose was to convene stakeholders of the country’s environment, not only to dialogue about deeper environmental issues, but also to showcase solutions and innovations being practiced and implemented in the Philippines.  He hoped and envisioned of the possibility of institutionalizing the summit as an annual event.  This way, he thinks, whoever seats as Environment Secretary, he/she will have to be accountable to the Filipino people, and the environment.  As a result, he committed the environment agency to be the major partner with Green Convergence to organize the 1^st Philippine Environment Summit.  Other major stakeholders in the environmental movement such as Renewal energy sectors, sustainable development institutions, environment NGOs, Television network and Maryknoll Sisters followed suit.

Secretary Paje’s State of the Philippine Environment and Keynotes Speeches

The Secretary of the Department of Environment, Ramon Paje delivered his State of the Philippine Environment, where he highlighted the successes of his six-year term in the office.  The National Greening Program of the country topped the report agenda.  The 5-year reforestation program aimed to plant 1.5B trees in 1.5M hectares of deforested and denuded land.  To the joy of the participants, he reported that Philippines have 400 additional islands in the eastern part that have not been discovered before, the land masses were detected by satellite mapping radar.  He clarified on the issue of prospective power plants, saying, “That the coal power plants were approved prior his term of office.  He promised that under this term, no new power plants will be approved, and no environment clearance certificates will be issued to operate new coal power plants.

The summit brought renowned environmentalists Vandana Shiva and David Suzuki to give keynote address.  Former Manila Archbishop, Cardinal Rosales gave an inspirational talk on the role of the Church, in the southern Philippines where rampant deforestation by powerful illegal loggers.  The Church rose to protect the environment, even to martyrdom of pastors and members of their staff, whose blood marked the injustices done in relation to land and the environment. He further said, the Church have been aware and fighting all these abuses, long before Pope Francis published the encyclical on the environment, Laudato si.  The Secretary of Education, Armin Luistro, highlighted the greening of education and schools, developing a new generation conscious of their role in protecting and respecting their environment.

Environment Breakthroughs and Innovation Exhibit

In the exhibit area, 14 of the local government units who are awarded LGO Eco champions showcased their eco-governance and good environmental practices.  Low-impact water management technology, Solar energy technologies, bioremediation and organic cleaning of pollutants and other ecosystem management and restoration and organic farming were also showcased. Maryknoll Ecological Sanctuary is also among the exhibitors.

Break Out Sessions:  Safe Good, Healthy Environment and Sustainable Development

The three days summit showcased daily parallel sessions featuring breakthroughs and innovations towards sustainable development in three key issues:  safe food, healthy environment, sustainable economy.  Sessions on Safe Food dealt with organic agriculture in the Philippines, legal framework, organic food and GMO –free, accessibility and affordability, health and wellness in relation to food, and urban gardening.  Speakers are practitioners. 

Sessions on Healthy environment dealt with programs on clean air and protection, clean water and its management, livable cities, sustainable transport system, renewable energy and alternative fuels, and programs on Climate change adaptation and mitigation, as well as disaster risk reduction and management.

Sessions on Sustainable Economy highlighted green economy and models of eco-governance.  Its parallel session talked about eco-friendly industries, models of ecotourism, renewable energy and excellent local governance and programs practiced in the grassroots level.

At the end of these parallel sessions, participants raised concerns and questions for further discussion in the local and national levels and surfaced constructive suggestions to address these concerns.  These were resolutions generated by summit participants.   

At the closing ceremony, I gave a summary presentation on the National LGU Eco Champion Project, a national project I was doing with DENR since 2014.  My presentation highlighted the excellent eco-governance in the various local government levels.   All 1,663 local government units in the Philippines were surveyed as to their compliance to 13 Philippine environmental laws and regulations such as Climate Change Act, Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Disaster and Risk Reduction Management Act, the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act.  A total of 172 respondents sent in their response from Provinces, Cities, Metro Manila cities, municipality levels.  Of these local governments, 14 outstanding local governments who topped the compliance were awarded the title “LGU Eco Champion”.   

More than a thousand participants sustained to attend the three day summit.  After the summit, many looking forward to join the environmental movement, some began by asking how they can become a member of Green Convergence. 

Maryknoll Magazine interview on Good Samaritan Women Center in Taichung, Taiwan

Please click the link, to listen, and read.

https://beta.prx.org/stories/44374

http://www.maryknollmagazine.org/index.php/magazines/164-being-sisters-to-sisters-in-taichung

Sisters and scholars reflect on the environmental encyclical and the importance of appreciating the inter- connectedness of people and planet

Global Sisters Report:  A New Green World by Melanie Lidman, Dan Stockman

http://globalsistersreport.org/environment/green-new-world-27181

Excerpt:

“It’s very clever to use the word ‘our home,’” said Maryknoll Sr. Marvie L. Misolas, who runs environmental seminars and retreats in the Philippines and advocates for the government to adopt green policies. She appreciates the direct and simple language of the encyclical, which she plans to use in her seminars with indigenous farmers to encourage them to stop burning trees for agriculture, a major cause of deforestation in the Philippines and around the world.

“The encyclical has that tone of ‘this is ours; this is not only for Catholics, but it’s for everyone,’” she said. “It gives people that sense of ownership. The term ‘our home’ is very important for me – it has a lot of connotations for all of us. Home is where we live, where we are acknowledged. In connection to the planet it is a very beautiful metaphor.”

Guardians of Watersheds Part 2

Guardians of Watersheds Part 2

May 2014   

May 21^st, at seven o'clock while I was waiting at the jeepney bay under Katipunan Avenue overpass.  Many of the street sleepers were still asleep in spite of the noise from motor vehicles.  I counted more than twenty, some of them with children, scattered around the pavement across the church.  Their skin and clothing darkened in the black carbon (soot) from vehicles. I promised myself that one of these days, I will visit with them.  Soon, my friends arrived then we took the jeep to Cogeo, then to Laiban.  Three motorcycles were waiting for us to go down to the village.  Tonet, one of the community leaders in Laiban, guided the two other drivers.  He assigned me to ride the “heavy duty” motorcycle; we all laughed hard when I told him, “You did not have to be so obvious about my weight!”  The motorcycle made it easier on the rough road although the bumps on the unpaved roads are hard on anyone's back. 

Along the side of the road, I noticed freshly burned terrain on both sides of the road, a sign of “slash and burn”, also called swidden (kaingin) activities[1] .   As far as my eye can reach, I can see so many burned areas.  I asked the driver about it, and he said, “These burnings are not permitted, but many people do it at night. They do that to prepare the land for vegetable farming and make charcoal to sell.”  The lands around the watershed are mountainous, and there is very little flat area for agriculture.  What these farmers do not understand is that stripping the mountains of trees and other plants will lead to desertification and denudation of top soil to the rivers, thus filling the river with silts.  Precipitation will also decrease because of lack of trees and vegetation in the area; it will prolong droughts during summer months.  Flash flooding presents another danger awaiting the low lying villages because of heavy rains coming down from the mountains without green vegetations to absorb rainfall.  Even though here is an ongoing reforestation and aforestation in Laiban, a project of Environmental Studies Institute and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, their benefits are negated by deforestation and other environmental issues.   

After the almost hour motorcycle ride, we arrived at the village stopping by to greet the village chief, a woman in her fifties.  The barangay (village) center was very clean and orderly. Some of the parents were already waiting to submit their children's scholarship application.

We were told there were about 20 applicants.  Tonet took us to their house, where a simple breakfast was prepared and served by his wife.  Afterwards, we headed back to the village center and started the screening of the scholars.   It was a wonderful experience to interview the youth individually about their application.  One of them left an impression on me.   She was only eleven years old, but quite clear of her direction in life.  She was very different from all the others, she seemed very sure of herself.  We decided to give all the applicants a chance to scholarship this year, but next year, only top three will be chosen based from their grades. The interview lasted until three o’clock in the afternoon and then went back to Tonet’s house and ate lunch.  Some of the village friends prepared some freshly picked vegetables and fruits to take back to the city.  Tonet plucked some green Indian mangoes too! Soon, it was time for us to go home, the sky was very dark and we had a light rain shower.  By the time, we traveled back uphill from the village to the highway, the sun came out.  It was a long and grueling day  but I felt deep joy reflecting on the accounts of what happened today.

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[1] Slash and burn agriculture is the process of cutting down the vegetation in a particular plot of land, setting fire to the remaining foliage, and using the ashes to provide nutrients to the soil for use of planting food crops. The cleared area following slash and burn, also known as swidden, is used for a relatively short period of time, and then left alone for a longer period of time so that vegetation can grow again. For this reason, this type of agriculture is also known as shifting cultivation. http://geography.about.com/od/urbaneconomicgeography/a/slashburn.htm accessed May 26, 2014)