Dutch ambassador airs warning on RP eagle

MANILA, Philippines - Will the Philippine eagle go to the same way as the new extinct dodo?

The Netherland ambassador to the Philippines Robert G. Brinks took the cudgels for the rare bird and other wildlife species (biodiversity), saying that time is running out on them owing to grave environmental problems.

The diplomat focused on the majestic national bird, which is being bred in captivity in the Philippine Eagle Center in Davao.

When released upon reaching maturity, an eagle has only a patch of tiny islands of suitable habitat left for hunting and breeding, he said.

“If nothing drastic is done about deforestation of the remaining woodland areas in Mindanao, within the lifetime of the present generation, the heritage of the national bird of the Philippines will only be seen on DVD, or at best tethered to a stump of a dead tree in the Eagle Center in Davao,” he stated.

The ambassador added: “That would be unforgiveable. It would be the same if the Dutch people would not properly look after and maintain for future generations the heritage of Rembrandt and other Dutch masters.”

Brink’s forum was a recent program at the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) in Makati City during which a new book on climate change was launched.

Titled “Moving Forward: Southeast Asian Perspectives on Climate Change and Biodiversity,” the 259-page volume was co-published by the Los Baños-based, government –hosted Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization-Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEAMEO SEARCA) and Singapore-based Institute for Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS).

The book was launched jointly by SEARCA, World Agroforestry Center, Bioversity International, ASEAN Center for Biodiversity, and Silliman University.

SEARCA Director Dr. Gil C. Saguiguit Jr. said the book is the outcome of an international conference organized in 2008 by the center and cooperating agencies. The conference culminated the five-year Biodiversity Research Program (BRP) in Mindanao involving 14 academic and research institutions.

Both the BRP and the conference were funded by the Netherlands government.

Dr. Saguiguit said the book “draws attention to what is ‘suspected’ but not yet well investigated and established link between climate change and biodiversity loss of conservation.”

Former SEARCA director Dr. Percy Sajise, one of the book’s three editors (with Dr. Saguiguit and Dr. Marilisa Ticsay), cited the publication’s timeliness, “especially at the time when we need to know as much as we can about climate change and biodiversity, as well as their very dynamic relationships.”

In his keynote address, Ambassador Erinks asserted that a healthy biodiversity considerably determines the future of Planet Earth.

“The future of humanity is intertwined with the health of our Earth and that the collapse of biodiversity will affect all people, as we are dependent on nature for water, food, medicines and fuel,” he stressed.

However, many parts of the world continue to lose countless species of flora and fauna owing to deforestation, pollution, overfishing, and wildlife hunting.

Brinks cited the flightless dodo related to the pigeon and endemic to the island of Mauritius, which became extinct in 1681.

“Other drivers of biodiversity-loss include the sheer pressures and demands of the growing human population and man’s wasteful and inefficient consumption patterns. And nowadays the other potential cause of biodiversity-loss would be climate change, the foremost environmental, social and economic challenge which mankind is facing,” he said.