[Mb-civic] A natural disaster's political roots - Barbara Goldoftas - Boston Globe Op-Ed

[William Swiggard]

  A natural disaster's political roots

By Barbara Goldoftas  |  March 4, 2006  |  The Boston Globe

THE RECENT coup attempt in the Philippines and mudslide that turned a 
village into a mass grave may seem unrelated. In many respects they are, 
but in important ways the Philippines' environmental woes are 
inextricably linked to the political turmoil that persists there.

The ways that societies respond to environmental problems reveal their 
strengths and their fault lines. In the Philippines, longstanding 
conflicts over forests, fisheries, and other natural resources have deep 
roots. Weak political institutions -- attributed only partly to the 
dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos -- reinforced economic weaknesses, 
bringing ecological decline that in turn deepened economic problems. In 
particular, the island of Leyte -- where the mudslide occurred -- shows 
how uncontrolled logging takes an economic and ecological toll.

The mudslide in the village of Guinsaugon in Saint Bernard town was not 
unexpected. Scientists had warned that the area was geologically 
unstable; since early February, unseasonably heavy rains brought by the 
ocean cooling called La Niña had caused flooding and mudslides there. 
Throughout the archipelago, flash floods and landslides strike regularly 
in logged-over areas, and the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and 
Astronomical Services Administration now warns that at least 15 
provinces face a high risk of flooding and landslides.

Leyte has been hit by some of the worst. In 2003, more than 150 people 
died in mudslides. In 1991, mud and floodwaters thundered down 
deforested foothills and through the city of Ormoc, taking as many as 
8,000 lives in minutes.

Poor decision-making, misplaced priorities, political neglect, and few 
economic options can masquerade as a natural disaster or just plain bad 
luck. In the Philippines, mudslides are only one example of the 
consequences of decades of poor environmental management and the 
long-term costs of ecological decline.

The archipelago is made up of more than 7,100 islands, about 2,000 of 
them inhabited. Like Leyte, many islands are mountainous. Thick tropical 
forest once covered their slopes, anchoring the soil and regulating the 
water cycle, which are important during the intense seasonal rains and 
typhoons. Much of the forestland was cleared over just a few decades, 
starting after World War II when the country became a major supplier of 
tropical wood. Timber became its leading export, headed primarily for 
the United States and Japan. Trees that commercial loggers left behind 
were often cut by bootleg loggers and peasants clearing land to farm.

For a century, foresters warned about the costs of over-logging in the 
Philippines, advising that trees should cover more than half of 
mountainous islands. The logging industry was largely unregulated, 
particularly during the Marcos era, through a combination of corruption, 
weak political institutions and greed. Despite protected areas and 
environmental laws, the Philippines became one of the most severely 
deforested countries in the tropics. By the late 1980s, trees covered 
far less than 10 percent of many islands. The results were erosion, 
mudslides, flash floods, and drought. The ecological decline helped 
impoverish the rural areas. Those provinces that were among the first to 
be logged, including Leyte, remain among the country's poorest.

As we are seeing in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, one 
environmental problem leads to another, and environmental disasters 
bring long-term costs. In the Philippines, the demise of the forests 
brought the collapse of the logging industry. It changed regional 
weather patterns. As people migrated to the coasts to find work, they 
created new pressures on the rich coastal fisheries, which also 
declined. The erosion of the forests and fisheries, in turn, heightened 
poverty in rural areas and sent millions of ecological refugees fleeing 
to the cities, where they often lived as squatters. The influx of people 
overwhelmed roads, power, and sewage and water systems, deepening urban 
environmental problems that can threaten human health.

Environmental changes have complex political causes. Even when causes 
have global dimensions, many of the costs -- ecological, economic, 
social, human -- are felt acutely at the local level. There is no quick 
fix, and while disaster-management schemes and warning systems can help 
save people's lives, they cannot prevent disasters from happening. 
Strong, level-headed governance, political will, and economic decisions 
that are forward-thinking are far more important.

Barbara Goldoftas is author of ''The Green Tiger: The Costs of 
Ecological Decline in the Philippines."

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/03/04/a_natural_disasters_political_roots/
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.islandlists.com/pipermail/mb-civic/attachments/20060304/6348cf63/attachment.htm