Green jobs and enterprises to the rescue

The Problem

It happened again. Typhoon Sendong and the resulting effect of the floods brought misery to countless people in Northern Mindanao and death to over a thousand. It seems that disasters like this are becoming something of the ordinary if we don’t do something about it.

Sometime early this year, in one of my trips to the province, the plane that I took had to fly around Metro Manila because of the heavy traffic at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) runway. I had the chance to see the coastline connecting the areas of Navotas, Bulacan and all the way to Bataan. I was expecting to see a beach line but I was surprised to see that only fishpond dikes separate Manila Bay from the land.  The images of the tsunami that hit Japan are still very much in our mind and seeing this situation, I said to myself this is a disaster in the waiting. Unfortunately it came so soon than expected. We have been witnesses to the floods that hit Bulacan, Pampanga and Tarlac that according to our old folks they have not seen like this in their lifetime.

We have been told that this is because of climate change, and therefore can be said to be an act of God. But we cannot also deny that part of it may be due to a calamity that is man-made. We have abused our mountains all these decades and stripped them of the forests, silted our rivers, and ripped bare our coastlines of mangrove denses. Many have put blame on the release of water from dams for the flooding in Central Luzon. But this is also the first time that we have experienced storm surges that destroyed even the concrete barriers along Manila Bay. Definitely, the areas along Bulacan and Pampanga have also been hit by the same storm surge and since there are no concrete or natural barriers in these areas, much of the flood water that remained days after the typhoon must have come from the sea because of this phenomenon.

The Solution

If part of the problem is man-made, then part of the solution should also be initiated by us. Let us not just sit down and leave nature to take its course. Thus, I am proposing that part of this solution is what is called “green enterprises” and “green jobs.” Green enterprises are those types of businesses that address the need for products and services that are beneficial to the environment. Green jobs therefore are those types of work and manpower needs to make these green enterprises work.

Let’s start from where floods emanate from. Forests and trees are said to act like sponges that capture water in the mountains and release this slowly as part of rivers and streams and also water that recharge aquifers. But if there are no forests, then water gushes from the mountains and create flash floods that we have seen recently and caused damage to property and lives in Cagayan de Oro, Iligan, and various places.

We need massive reforestation programs to bring back the greens in our mountains. I wish P-Noy success in his National Greening Program. But government alone cannot do this. That is why there is a need to provide an investment framework where private groups and companies can make a business in planting and harvesting of trees. I was informed that one deterrent from making this to happen is the flip-flopping of governments, now and in the past, on log bans. Banning the cutting of trees is not the solution to our disappearing forests. A definitive land use plan is also needed to delineate where we need the permanent forests and where production forests can be developed. We just have to take a look at the success of New Zealand, South Korea and Chile in their reforestation programs and how these were made into a multibillion industry that provide their citizens jobs and businesses while at the same time improving their overall environmental conditions.

As water flows down its course, we should also establish water catchment areas to capture rainwater and use these for irrigation, generating electricity, and other domestic uses. Storing runoff water in ponds also help in recharging ground water needed to make our dried up springs back to life. Some parts of India and Taiwan in particular have done this all these years to conserve their water resources.

We should also do something with our coastlines. First, we need to re-establish mangrove forests that serve as natural barriers to tsunamis, storm surges, and serve as breeding grounds for various marine products. The dwindling catch of fish, crustaceans and shrimps can be traced to our disappearing mangroves.

We need a coherent program that former Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Bebet Gozun expressed as “ridge to reef” to bring about solutions to our perennial problems brought about by floods and drought. Definitely, there are many problems. But as the Chinese would put it, these same problems are opportunities as long as we put more effort than talk in solving our problems.

(This article reflects the personal opinion of the author and does not reflect the official stand of the Management Association of the Philippines. The author is vice chair of the MAP Agribusiness and Countryside Development Committee, and Dean of the MFI Farm Business School of the MFI Foundation, Inc. Feedback at [email protected]. For previous articles, visit www.map.org.ph.)