MAKAKALIKASAN (Nature Party Philippines) is extremely alarmed by this report. With less than 10% of our forest cover and the given the weak implementation of the National Green Program (NGP), to know that any small gains from these efforts have now been cancelled by continuing deforestation; most of which are avoidable with political will and strong enforcement is simply unacceptable. We need our forests if we are to survive the impacts of climate change. Private efforts is simply not enough. It is the government that must take the cudgels for this given the scale of action needed. We demand real political action NOW! Let us demonstrate it here in the Sierra Madre range. We demand accountability from the DENR, all Protected Area Management Boards and the Local Government Units for this failure of eco governance. Please read here the MAKAKALIKASAN Green Agenda on Biodiversity and Habitat Conservation that includes our action proposals for reforestation and forest protection: http://naturepartyph.weebly.com/biodiversity--habitat-conservation.html
JOIN to ACT through our appropriate FB Action Groups: www.facebook.com/groups/ph.biodiversityconservation www.facebook.com/groups/ph.reforestation To JOIN the MAKAKALIKASAN: www.naturepartyph.weebly.com/join.html To become a Founding Member, please JOIN our ASSEMBLIES: www.facebook.com/groups/makakalikasan.assembly Original article Deforestation in the Sierra Madre in northern Luzon has canceled out the gains of the National Greening Program (NGP), according to scientists who observed satellite data in the past two decades to assess the results of the government’s massive reforestation project. Scientists from the University of the Philippines (UP) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) in the United States said continued forest loss amid reforestation efforts highlighted the urgency to implement environmental laws as well as the greater need to protect and conserve the country’s remaining forests. The forest cover in the Philippines has been reduced to less than 10 percent of the original, due to widespread logging and other threats to forest ecosystems. Read more
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MAKAKALIKASAN (Nature Party Philippines) endorses this open letter urging focus on actions for ocean and blue carbon by putting marine ecosystem at the heart of climate policy. For an archipelago situated in some of the most critical marine habitats in the world, it is crucial for the planet that the Philippines support this call and increases its commitment to the 30/30 (30% marine protected area in 30 years) from the current low 2%. Read the MAKAKALIKASAN Biodiversity & Habitat Conservation Green Agenda consistent with this call: http://naturepartyph.weebly.com/biodiversity--habitat-conservation.html
JOIN to ACT through our appropriate FB Action Group: www.facebook.com/groups/ph.biodiversityconservation To JOIN the MAKAKALIKASAN: www.naturepartyph.weebly.com/join.html To become a Founding Member, please JOIN our ASSEMBLIES: www.facebook.com/groups/makakalikasan.assembly Original article As global weather experts warned Monday that the world's oceans are “under threat like never before,” more than 3,000 scientists, politicians, and other public figures had endorsed an open letter urging national governments to “recognize the critical importance of our ocean and blue carbon in the fight against the climate emergency.” Led by the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) and backed by 66 partner groups, the letter (pdf) calling on world leaders to “put marine ecosystems at the heart of climate policy” is now open to public signature and will be presented to governments before November's United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow. Read more MAKAKALIKASAN (Nature Party Philippines) asks, what is in a name? And our answer would be nothing... and EVERYTHING! Indigenous Peoples have the right to self determination, including their act of self-ascription. The way they want to call themselves as individual peoples or as a collection of people; like in the case of IPs in Mindanao is their own decision. And any name they choose should mot be used against them in tagging them as "terrorist". To assume that the CPP-NDF-NPA orchestrated the use of the word Lumad for their own political purposes does not seemed to be consistent with the way they term was used widely by many groups and institutions for many other purposes besides to pursue the political agenda of the CPP-NDF-NPA in its rebellion. NCIP, by making this connection is not giving justice to the Indigenous Peoples concern and the other groups and institutions who have since adopted this term. This NCIP memorandum should be withdrawn and let us not waste any more time on shallow issues such as this and instead spend all our energy on pursuing reforms to protect and support the right to self governance and self determination of the indigenous peoples and to secure and develop their ancestral domain. Read more about the MAKAKALIKASAN Green Agenda in support of the Indigenous Peoples here: http://naturepartyph.weebly.com/ensure-self-determination-of-peoples--final-peace-settlements.html
JOIN to ACT through our appropriate FB Action Group: www.facebook.com/groups/ph.indigenouspeoples To JOIN the MAKAKALIKASAN: www.naturepartyph.weebly.com/join.html To become a Founding Member, please JOIN our ASSEMBLIES: www.facebook.com/groups/makakalikasan.assembly Original article DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 19 March) – Lumad leaders and eminent Mindanawon scholars are questioning the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples’ (NCIP) resolution red-tagging and banning the use of “Lumad” to refer to Indigenous Peoples (IPs) in Mindanao, even as this Cebuano word has been used since the late 1970s as a collective term for at least 20 non-Moro IPs across southern Philippines ‘Lumad’ means indigenous or native. The NCIP en banc passed on March 2 Resolution 08-009-2021 “denouncing the use of the term ‘Lumad’ to refer to indigenous cultural communities / indigenous peoples (ICCs/IPs) particularly of Mindanao and enjoining the public to address ICCs/IPs by their respective ICC/IP affiliation or ethnolinguistic group.” The NCIP claimed that the word’s “emergence and continued use is marred by its association with the CPP (Communist Party of the Philippines), NDF (National Democratic Front) and NPA (New Peoples’ Army) whose ideologies are not consistent with the cultures, practices and beliefs of ICCs/IPs. Read more MAKAKALIKASAN (Nature Party Philippines) reflects on this critical commentary against the targeted increase to 55.8% of renewable energy by 2040 share for the country citing the low standing of the Philippines in the Trilemma Index and its its anticipated burden to consumer as a result of higher electricity bills. While the current trend that seemed to suggest this may be a failure of how our feed-in-tariff (FIT) mechanism has been implemented, there is more to shifting to renewable energy swiftly than a stable electricity price. With the current climate and environmental crises, there is no stopping the trend towards moving from fossil fuel to renewable energy. It is now just a question of who will pay for this shift. MAKAKALIKASAN believes that the state must subsidize heavily our shift to renewable energy and not rely on FIT. The state must also force the end of more coal sources of energy and the phase out quickly of existing ones to force the increase of phase to develop our RE sources that will in turn improve the overall investment and business environment to make FIT work better. Demand-side management of energy is equally important simply because our current lifestyles are by itself the driver of our unsustainability. The demand for energy must be stabilize and eventually reduce. The assumption of constant increase of demand is ecologically not realistic as our resources and our ecosystems have limits. TO understand Makakalikasan's views on renewable energy, please read this: http://naturepartyph.weebly.com/renewable-energy--green-public-works.html
JOIN to ACT through our appropriate FB Action Group: www.facebook.com/groups/ph.renewableenergy To JOIN the MAKAKALIKASAN: www.naturepartyph.weebly.com/join.html To become a Founding Member, please JOIN our ASSEMBLIES: www.facebook.com/groups/makakalikasan.assembly Original article As usual, there are many interesting stories weekly in the Philippines energy sector but these three recent reports in BusinessWorld are of particular importance: 1) “Renewable energy program targets 55.8% share of power mix by 2040” (Feb. 15), 2) “Senate asks DoE for details of clean energy plan” (Feb. 17) and 3) “SMC units submit lowest bids for 1,800-MW Meralco supply deal” (Feb. 20). Read more MAKAKALIKASAN (Nature Party Philippines) welcomes these Responsible Seafood Sourcing (RSS) principles constituting a set of rules & standards in purchasing, harvesting, and processing seafood and seafood products responsibly. However, the country is good at setting and adopting rules and standards and unfortunately continue to be weak in consistent enforcement and implementation. And many of the causes of our failure to curb the Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing is simply insufficient capacity of authorities to enforce; including the political will to do so and the rampant violations is a direct result. So while we welcome yet another set of rules & standards, we believe, more effort must be done in building capacity and the political movement to push these enforcement. Also, we should also start shifting demand for food consumption of Filipinos from animal-based sources to mor sustainable plant-based diets. Our marine resources are really more a complex and extremely important ecosystem that provides multiple benefits to human beings and other being we share this planet with and not just a source of food. We need to move beyond this human-centric views of fisheries. To understand more the Biodiversity Conservation & Habitat Conservation Green Agenda of MAKAKALIKASAN, please read this: http://naturepartyph.weebly.com/biodiversity--habitat-conservation.html
JOIN to ACT through our appropriate FB Action Group: www.facebook.com/groups/ph.biodiversityconservation To JOIN the MAKAKALIKASAN: www.naturepartyph.weebly.com/join.html To become a Founding Member, please JOIN our ASSEMBLIES: www.facebook.com/groups/makakalikasan.assembly Original article About 70 percent of Philippine fishing grounds are currently overfished. If this continues, future generations won’t have fish to eat. Limiting our catch is one way to preserve marine biodiversity and to save the livelihood of almost two million Filipino fisherfolk. If everyone collects just enough fish for themselves, we allow the remaining fishes in the sea to reproduce. We consistently harvest fish faster than they can multiply. Because of this, we don’t allow fishes to grow and this will eventually keep the seas empty. This is why implementing fishing limitations and strictly monitoring fishing activities is critical. 50 percent of the Filipino’s protein diet comes from fish and with the proper use of our resources, we will be able to fight hunger and feed future generations. Read more MAKAKALIKASAN (Nature Party Philippines) welcomes the goal of "triple-win" of biodiversity, fisheries and carbon sequestration proposed as part of the conclusion of this report. No doubt as a predominantly ocean planet and in the Philippines being a major archipelago, we recognize the importance of protecting, conserving and managing sustainably our oceans and seas. The emerging 30% protection target of marine areas is a welcome goals, especially that the Philippines currently only targets 2% with barely 1.7% currently protected at varying degrees. In all of these, MAKAKALIKASAN reminds everyone of the equity issues the permeates this challenge of marine conservation. We must ensure that the artisanal (small) fisher folk's remain preferably protected in their access to our municipal waters and ensuring that no incursion is allowed among commercial fishers, Filipinos and especially foreigners. Read here, MAKAKALIKASAN's Green Agenda on Biodiversity Conservation to understand the overall contest of our position on marine conservation: http://naturepartyph.weebly.com/biodiversity--habitat-conservation.html
JOIN to ACT through our appropriate FB Action Group: www.facebook.com/groups/ph.biodiversityconservation To JOIN the MAKAKALIKASAN: www.naturepartyph.weebly.com/join.html To become a Founding Member, please JOIN our ASSEMBLIES: www.facebook.com/groups/makakalikasan.assembly Original article New research says preserving more of the world’s waters would lead to healthier marine life, better fishing and increased carbon absorption. Humanity has no better friend on this planet than the ocean. It provides more than half the oxygen we need to breathe. It supplies food that helps sustain more than 3 billion people. It absorbs many of the pollutants we keep pumping into the atmosphere: carbon dioxide, ozone-depleting chemicals. The ocean is the kind of unwaveringly supportive friend who tolerates our toxicity and shields us from the worst consequences of our actions. It’s the friend people have taken for granted for far too long. By overfishing and mining and drilling the seafloor, humans are risking not just the ocean’s health but our own. But new research suggests that a strategic, globally coordinated effort to protect more of the world’s waters could not only bolster marine biodiversity but significantly increase the number of fish available for harvest and boost the amount of carbon taken up by the ocean, aiding the fight against climate change. Read more MAKAKALIKASAN (Nature Party Philippines) welcome the amendment of our the 2010 Organic Agriculture Act to include the PGS (Participatory Guarantee System) that remedies the problem of the original law which was more focused on developing and facilitating organic agriculture production for export. With PGS, we can not re-direct our organic agriculture towards local, domestic use and development. For MAKAKALIKASAN, this is a step to the right direction of a shift to 100% organic agriculture for the entire country within the next 10-20 years. To read more about the Organic Agriculture agenda of MAKAKALIKASAN, please read this: http://naturepartyph.weebly.com/sustainable-agriculture.html
JOIN to ACT through our appropriate FB Action Group: www.facebook.com/groups/ph.sustainableagriculture To JOIN the MAKAKALIKASAN: www.naturepartyph.weebly.com/join.html To become a Founding Member, please JOIN our ASSEMBLIES: www.facebook.com/groups/makakalikasan.assembly Original article Organically grown vegetables mean many things: naturally grown, synthetic chemical-free, safe, sustainable. Unfortunately, it can also mean other things: expensive, inaccessible to small farmers and consumers on a tight budget. The Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) is hoping to change this. Organic vs. natural farming. There’s a slight confusion between organic and natural farming, with the terms sometimes being used interchangeably. While both organic and natural farming use the same processes, the big difference lies in paperwork. Namely, ‘organic’ refers to a farm or product that uses natural farming methods and has been certified as organic by a third party, while ‘naturally grown’ refers to a farm or product that uses natural farming methods, but does not have organic certification. Read more MAKAKALIKASAN (Nature Party Philippines) recognizes recycling as one part of the solution in plastic wastes. However, the final solution is the eventual phaseout of the use of plastics in all our products and drastic reduction of its use today. This is why we are supporting all legislations and programs towards this phase out. As countries, including the big ones, such as China is abandoning recycling plastic wastes of other countries, we also do not want to become the recycling centers for managing the plastic waste of other countries. This dangling of the WB of what it call a "loss of $890 Million a year" on plastic recycling is hardly limited to plastics produce, used and discarded here inside the country but they are in fact talking by large by the global plastic waste market which we should oppose. Priority should remain reduction of use, then phase out of plastics. Plastic recycling must be an option opened to community enterprises or sustainable enterprise run by local government units in partnership with these community enterprises. But it must not become an impetus for an entire industry to flourish in the Philippines as we manage this waste. This will only create the necessary market condition to dump more plastics here from other countries. Read here the position of MAKAKALIKASAN on Ecological Economics that encompasses our position on plastic waste management: http://naturepartyph.weebly.com/ecological-economics.html
JOIN to ACT through our appropriate FB Action Group: www.facebook.com/groups/ph.zerowaste To JOIN the MAKAKALIKASAN: www.naturepartyph.weebly.com/join.html To become a Founding Member, please JOIN our ASSEMBLIES: www.facebook.com/groups/makakalikasan.assembly Original article THE PHILIPPINE economy is losing up to $890 million a year due to what is described as a “market failure” in plastic waste recycling efforts, a new World Bank Group (WB) country study showed. “Only 22% of the total material value of plastics ($246 million/year) is currently unlocked. This results in $790-890 million/year of potential material value that is lost to the Philippine economy,” the World Bank Group said in “Market Study for the Philippines: Plastics Circularity Opportunities and Barriers” released on Tuesday. The total material value which could be unlocked from plastics recycling amounted to $1.1 billion, assuming that four of the country’s key plastics resins had 100% collected-for-recycling (CFR) rates and were sold for maximum value in the market, the World Bank said. Read more MAKAKALIKASAN (Nature Party Philippines) welcomes this new report with regret that more and more people are suffering from the ever increasing impact of climate change in many countries all over the globe, including the Philippines. This only shows that our capacity to respond to these climate-induce natural calamities is grossly insufficient and it seems our climate adaptation is not working well enough. More actions from government now and the foreseeable future is definitely needed and all this requires political will to pursue the needed climate actions. Please read MAKAKALIKASAN's Green Agenda on Climate Actions for what we think should be done: http://naturepartyph.weebly.com/climate--public-health-emergency-actions.html
JOIN to ACT through our appropriate FB Action Group: www.facebook.com/groups/ph.climateactions To JOIN the MAKAKALIKASAN: www.naturepartyph.weebly.com/join.html To become a Founding Member, please JOIN our ASSEMBLIES: www.facebook.com/groups/makakalikasan.assembly Original article A new report reveals 12.6 million people have been internally displaced around the world in the last six months mainly due to climate and weather-related disasters, according to data available through the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) report, Responding to Disasters and Displacement in a Changing Climate, comes hot on the heels of a record-breaking 26 climate-related disaster response operations launched across Asia and the Pacific in 2020. Read more MAKAKALIKASAN (Nature Party Philippines) welcomes this boost in state funding for the development of the bamboo industry in the country which includes its massive use in reforestation work that can also provide sustainable livelihood for forest dwellers. As a sustainable resource, bamboo has huge potential as alternative material for housing and other building. It has various application in many other day to day products that can substitute for current raw materials that are non renewable, including plastics. MAKAKALIKASAN will support its promotion and development but we also remind government that while bamboo can create good "buffers" in boundaries of reforestation site and are excellent to plant in steep slopes to avoid further erosion, it is not a substitute for the needed diversity of many other ecosystem and habitat-specific hardwood varieties for reforestation. We also remind the government to ensure the price and access of people, especially the poor, to bamboo remains affordable and not let its categorization as high-value crop result in sky rocketing of its price simply because we will have more exports for it. Local supply must remain stable and sufficient. Read about MAKAKALIKASAN's Biodiversity Conservation Agenda: http://naturepartyph.weebly.com/biodiversity--habitat-conservation.html
JOIN to ACT through our appropriate FB Action Group: www.facebook.com/groups/ph.reforestation To JOIN the MAKAKALIKASAN: www.naturepartyph.weebly.com/join.html To become a Founding Member, please JOIN our ASSEMBLIES: www.facebook.com/groups/makakalikasan.assembly Original article The government has allocated at least P22 billion for the development of bamboo industry in the country from 2021 to 2022 as the high value added forest product has good export potential, wide industry applications, and jobs creation. Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon M. Lopez said at the North Luzon and Central Luzon Virtual Bamboo Summit that for 2021 government agencies are implementing P594 million worth of projects while the Development Bank of the Philippines is making available P10 billion in loans for the industry. For 2022, a total of P1.4 billion-worth of projects have been proposed for that budget cycle, and about P10 billion-worth of loans again will be again made available. Read more |
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