Cebu: Paradise at Risk

Today, we celebrate Earth Day, but it seems not everyone is concerned of the current environmental crisis and issues we face or even now about this World-Wide Event.

Land, Water and Air – The Ecological state of Cebu needs extra attention. The Island of cebu which stretches 225 km from the northern tip to the south, has many of its natural resources intact but these could be in peril if management plans aren’t carried out to preserve watersheds, forests and coastlines, said the government and technical experts.

The marine and mineral resources are still abundant but are currently threatened due to the increase of Oil surveys and possible oil drilling in the near future. Also, excessive & Destructive fishing, and habitat degradation is still being practiced by some fishermen. Beaches are showing the effects of domestic pollution as the 4th quarter test results for 2007, showed.

Water Supply from abundant rainfall remains available and steady, cebu has enough water supply until 2025 according to the special projects manager of the water resource center of USC. The largest rivers, Guadalupe and Butuanon are at the mercy of indiscriminate garbage disposal and needs massive investments for a clean up.

The Island’s forest cover is less than 2%, way below the Forestry Code’s Standard of 48%. About 6,300 Hectares are considered natura forest and only 5,122 Hectares are man-made forest. According to the presidential decree No. 705 r the Revised Forestry Code of the Philippines, 52% of the total land area should be classified as alienable and disposable land while 48% should be allotted as timber land or forest but obviously it is not followed by cebu. Farming or kaingin method/Slash-and-burn also threatens the remaining forest cover. The Product charcoal is a source of livelihood of the poorest families.

Apathy, Complacency and just plain ignorance is what I blame for such silly things to continue to happen. Why silly? Because we have the power to stop these things from happening and plan for a sustainable future and yet we continue to do nothing about it. People, Filipinos learn best through experience, but don’t tell that we will only start to act when we have already experience a crisis or disaster, rehabilitation is much more costly than prevention. Abundant does not mean inexhaustible, are we just going to not care whenever we use our water and wait for supplies to be low when we are nearing 2025?

“It is your decisions, not your conditions that shall determine your destiny.”

Cebu: Paradise at Risk Cebu: Paradise at Risk Reviewed by Vernon Joseph Go on Tuesday, April 22, 2008 Rating: 5

2 comments

  1. i'm celebrating earth day too, see my blog. take care.

    ReplyDelete
  2. happy earth day!

    i'll do all my responsibilities for the sake of mother earth...

    finger crossed!

    ReplyDelete