How to beat the heat

I took a walk inside the subdivision that I live in and noticed that the mango trees bore fruit. The fruits were not big enough to be picked but they still had me wondering if I could pick them. I don’t like eating green mangoes. I just like the idea of picking fruits.

The appearance of bunches of green mangoes heralded the beginning of summer for me. Not that I needed more reminders, though. Every morning, I look out the window and see a cloudless blue sky. I try not to get out of the house between ten in the morning up to three in the afternoon. When I could not avoid doing so on some occasions, I realized that applying SPF 45 sunblock and carrying an umbrella were no match for the scorching heat.

Just a few months ago, friends traumatized by Typhoon Ondoy panicked at the slightest sign of rain. Now, we are being asked to pray for rain as the earth is parched, the crops are dying, and our dams do not have enough water to generate electricity. It is El Niño time and by the looks of it, there is not much we can do except to wait for it to pass.

What could have been done for the Philippines to have been better prepared for El Niño?

We all knew it was coming but we did not think that it was going to be this bad. Some are blaming the politicians for calling for the release of water from the dams to allay the fears of their jittery constituents. Some are blaming environmental activists for protesting the construction of dams that could have stored more water. And others think that giving President Gloria Arroyo emergency powers will solve all problems brought about by El Niño.

It is easy to get absorbed in these debates and promptly forget about the bigger picture. What are we going to do about climate change? When are we going to start implementing our plans to mitigate its effects?

The most obvious solution would be to preserve our remaining forests and to increase our forest cover. From past disasters, we learned that forests are vital for preventing flooding and landslides. They also reduce air pollution and cool the atmosphere. Unfortunately, the important role that forests play in our lives gets forgotten as soon as news about landslides and flooding is buried by more current issues. It is remembered only after another disaster strikes.

There are pending bills giving tax and other benefits to persons who participate in reforestation and forest stewardship programs but it looks like they will not become law anytime soon. A bill overhauling our Marcos-era Forestry Code was discussed for years.

Sadly, the provisions that environmentalists wanted added, which would have emphasized that forests are valuable in themselves (and not just as a source of timber), never made it to the latest version. That bill will probably be forgotten, too.

My dream is for communities themselves to take steps to protect their remaining forests and to reforest denuded areas. There are enough laws that state that Filipinos have a right to a clean and healthful environment. Under the Local Government Code, within their territorial jurisdictions, local government units are vested with powers to enhance the right of the people to a balanced ecology and to promote their health and safety.

Having forests in every Philippine town and city is a big dream. It could also be the best long-term solution to the ravages of El Niño (and La Niña). And it can come true one tree at a time.

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