#natsca2

The Coastal Lagoon in Manila Bay is in danger of dying out. It's really kind of a big thing. The Coastal Lagoon is one of the places we have left (in this country) where migratory birds can stay and rest. Back in 1970, the place used to boast of 28,000 birds residing in the lagoons. Now we count 5,000. Among these birds are the globally threatened Philippine duck and the Chinese egret.

Former President Gloria Arroyo declared the area as a critical habitat and ecotourism area. She banned activities that would impede its ecologically vital role as a bird sanctuary.

A lot of you may not realize how we need this land to be untouched. Metro Manila is slowly losing its natural spaces. The Coastal Lagoon is one of its last stands. The area provides a buffer from storm surges, nurseries for fish and other wildlife and a permeable surface to absorb and process toxins from both sea and land (all for free). It's also a great rest spot for migrating birds.

The thing is, the Philippine government is planning on reclaiming 635 hectares of land on the coast. They say that we shouldn't worry because they're not really building over the lagoons. Just... y'know, around it.

Building around the mangroves will only cut the circulation of the seawater. The entire bird sanctuary will be cut off from the bay and soon the saltwater may dry up. 

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources issued that the reclamation project follow their recommendations if they are to 'reclaim' the land.

That there must be a channel between the reclamation area and the sanctuary to allow water from Manila Bay to flow so that the sanctuary won't die.

there is no other recommendation

So they build a channel to keep the water circulating. That definitely answers the problem of the mangroves dying out but what happens to the birds in the end?

What is it like for you to live in the middle of the business district surrounded by traffic and casinos and everything else? What more if you were a bird?

They don't understand what it is that makes a critical habitat. The value of the area lies in it being untouched and undisturbed.

Sadly this isn't the only problem the coastal lagoon bird population is facing. NAIA airs is complaining about bird strikes (when birds hit the planes). It's a very significant threat... for people.

The NAIA General Manager, Jose Angel Honrado, blames the birdstrikes on the coastal lagoons. They actually want the lagoons gone or at least... 'relocated'. I say, change their flight paths.

But that's probably too inconvenient for them.

by: Patricia Cabauatan

Just a month ago, two containers that were declared as raw rubber was intercepted in Manila by the Bureau of Customs.  The vans contained 163 stuffed hawkbills and green turtles; 21,169 pieces of black corals; 7,340 pieces of Trumpet and Helmet shells; and 196 kg of sea whips—all threatened species that cannot be collected or traded. (Inquirer.net)  All these worth P35 million.  These were taken from the coast of Cotabato, and according to Protected Area and Wildlife Bureau Director Theresa Mundita Lim, the damage of the poachers on the coral reef complex is five times the size of Manila or 190.8 sq. kilometers.

The people who are responsible for this “rape of the ocean” are Exequiel Navarro – consignee of smuggled black corals and turtles, Olivia Li – proprietress of Zamboanga’s Li and Lim Trading and alleged shipper of the contraband, her husband Lee Yu Ming, alias Joe Pring.  There are others who were charged by the Department of Justice and these are: Kim L. Atillano, owner of the Zamboanga-based JKA Transport System, the cargo forwarding company tapped by the shipper; Ireneo Penuliar and other yet-to-be identified employees of the Manila branch of the JKA Transport System; and officers/owners of Vicky’s Trucking, the company which transported the misdeclared cargo from the shipper’s warehouse to the Port of Zamboanga. (Inquirer.net)

The couple were failed to be arrested as they were able to leave the country for Hong Kong last June 7.  Instead of attending the hearing by the Senate committee on environment and natural resources.  And now that they “escaped”, the government has put them in the immigrant watch list and has asked Zamboanga City prosecutors Gladdy Bernabe and Alfredo Jimenez Jr to explain why they failed to resolve the case of Li and Lee.

So far, this is what has happened on the Black Corals issue and it has not been mentioned for many weeks now.  When the issue dies down, we forget it like it never happened.  People point fingers and blaming it on others, but that is not exactly the problem.  Unfortunately, we humans comprise most if not the whole problem.  We rob other species of their food and home.  We take nature’s treasures, we profit and depend on it, but we don’t replenish it.  The black corals poaching in Cotabato is just one of the many problems our country is experiencing.  This only caught our attention because of the magnitude of the damage.  It has actually been going on for many years, but it has been overlooked by not only the government, but by humans as well.

Each of us has a role play, but it seems we only play the part when the actual need is there; when the crisis presents itself; when it will affect the way we live.  There is a saying, “Prevention is better than cure,”  but what we are doing to nature, we do not see the damage done right away.

“It is a silent crisis.  We don’t see it, yet we feel it.” (Fuentes, ASEAN Center for Biodiversity Loss)

I guess why we don’t actually worry and think of the long term effects of our actions is because we rely on what we see.  This is also because, nature does not show how it is affected right away.  But that is our problem also, we only act on it when some of the species are nearly gone.

Why can’t we stop this black coral poaching? According to a Badjao diver , the gathering of corals and other endangered marine species is a lucrative activity for small fishermen in western Mindanao.  And for fishermen, it is easier than catching fish, said a 68-year-old diver, whose identity has been withheld for his protection.  So again, it boils down to profit and means of livelihood.

“Imagine, if we were in their place, what would we have felt being robbed of our food and home?”

Humans, by nature are proud and greedy creatures and have short term memory.  We forget if we’re not constantly reminded – one second we’re fighting for them, the next we are tired of them.

A little consideration, because we are one component of life.  We are also creatures of God, and to us He has given us a task.