Philippine Daily Inquirer Commentary November 29, 2007 By Felicito C. Payumo |
Yes, the Amazon Indians do better than us in using Google Earth, Global Positioning System (GPS), and other technologies in protecting their rainforest and preserving their history and cultural traditions. I recall having read about this in a travel magazine, so I logged on to Google for more information. The Surui Indians and other tribes are aided by improved satellite image in keeping tabs on loggers and miners. “Google Earth is used primarily for vigilance. Indians log on and study images, inch by inch, looking to see where new gold mines are popping up or where deforestation is occurring. We offered the Google Earth team a list of coordinates where it would be helpful to have sharper images,” said Vasco van Roosmalen of the Amazon Conservation Team (ACT). But they also use them in cataloguing medicinal plants, hunting grounds, ancestral cemeteries and sacred sites. “We want people to know that these territories are not just empty swaths of green as seen by satellite, but the homes, supermarkets, museums, libraries of a people who depend on these areas for their survival.”
Wondering if we could do the same in our country, I clicked on Google Earth and zoomed in on the vast Subic and Bataan forest to check. Not quite, while I could see clearly the airport and buildings in Subic and had fun looking for the rooftop of my house, huge areas of the Bataan forest were shown as a haze. And they were not real time images- there was not a trace yet of the ongoing Subic-Clark-Tarlac Road construction. I am sure the Government or the World Wild Life Fund can ask Google Earth for updated and sharper images just like ACT did for the Amazon Indians.
I also went to the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (NAMRIA) to ask how we use the satellite images. My findings: we have infra red maps which can be a powerful tool in protecting our environment but we are not aware how the DENR or the local officials use them. To begin with, they cover only certain areas and are not updated. I asked for comparative images of Penablanca in the Sierra Madre or that of the Samar forests where a timber cutting permit to a logging company has been opposed by environmentalists. There was none. It was only the Bataan forests that had images taken both in 1989 and 2002, but none in 2007 or in other years. Still, in comparing the snapshots, the images show graphically what had occurred over the 12 years around Mt. Natib and Mt. Mariveles, a job for which air or ground surveillance would be both expensive and ineffective given the breath and depth of the forests.
The infra-red images show the thick vegetation in crimson color. Since it takes a trained eye to spot the changes, I asked the helpful officer of NAMRIA to point out the areas of degradation by encircling them in the second photo. She did. Like a man’s balding head, I could see the hair on the nape and sides being shorn upwards. I could also detect some clearing on the crown like an initiation of what would soon be a cleric’s tonsure.
Wouldn’t these and similar images of the country’s protected areas serve the cause of environment protection if posted yearly in the provincial, municipal and barangay halls, and published in national and local newspapers rather than kept in a Government archive? More eyes watching- by the public, the NGOs, etc.- will put pressure on the DENR officers and local officials from the provincial down to the barangay level to protect their watershed. A performance-based evaluation which can be done more objectively with the images than with any self-serving report from the forest rangers or ground patrol should be welcome to DENR Secretary Lito Atienza. This can be our practical contribution to the Conference on Climate Change held in Albay by Governor Joey Salceda. While the Philippines is not in the league of the U.S., Europe or China in carbon emission, it is one of the most threatened of the world’s biodiversity hotspots. And since, according to Conservation International, deforestation is responsible for one-fourth of all green house gas emission- more than double the amount from the world’s cars and trucks- it is in forest conservation that we can contribute to the fight against global warming.
The Amazon Indians have shown us the way. Whether in harnessing the benefits of satellite, cyberspace or the airwaves, we can emulate them on how they employ technology. Our officials want to spend P16 billion for the National Broadband Network (NBN) and P24 billion for Cyber Education, while the Amazon tribes will make use of satellite services for their rainforest protection free. And Google Earth is more than happy to help because they reap good publicity.
We read that the DOTC, while having abandoned the ZTE deal, is still bent on spending money for a national broadband network by inviting the telcos to bid. But I thought the issue is precisely whether or not the Government needs to have a dedicated connectivity given that communications backbones from the private sector, as confirmed by both SMART and Globe in a recent Senate hearing, already serve 98 per cent of the population? And with respect to the use of technology in education, why spend P18 billion of a total P24 billion Cyber Ed budget for a separate connectivity alone? Why not make use of the other NBN- the Government NBN 4 station- to telecast the lectures of the so-called expert teachers? An hour a day, and five days a week lecture telecast not only to students in schools but to the out of school youth and adults in the homes should fit in the station’s program. If the content quality is anywhere close to the USAID supported Knowledge Channel which has successfully penetrated even Mindanao, maybe this distance learning program would even help push the Government TV channel’s rating one notch up! And in the areas not reached by NBN 4 broadcast, there are the 1501 strong cable TV operators who can be asked to play the DVD copies in their community channels for free. Finally, to the very few remaining schools too remote to be reached either by regular or cable TV- well, no problem- why not just send them DVD copies of the lectures?
Is this an Indian tribe solution? Maybe, but that’s what we need!
Mr. F.C. Payumo was a three- term Congressman of the First District of Bataan and a former Chairman/Administrator of the SBMA.
Comments to: payumo.felicito@gmail.com
