BAGUIO CITY – In the dynamic field of sustainable development, community involvement in environmental protection down barangay level and up bureaucratic ladder emerges as potent force for a meaningful outlook towards whatever remains of Cordillera Administrative Region’s (CAR) nature.
CAR people’s demand for better life get higher and higher; so too, must citizen’s participation for urban and rural ecological environment be CAR people’s obligation or enthusiasm.
Presently, urban and rural environments deterioration from fire, continuing deforestation, vehicle emission, garbage, visitors’ entry and cross-flow of sewage in CAR have brought challenges to ecological environment governance.
At such situation, betterment in the ability and level of environmental governance is a must in winning the battle for political ecology and citizen participation even more crucial to improvement of the same.
So what do CAR citizens have in common to give a damn about conservation?
For instance, while CAR is a “must to see” by both domestic and foreign visitors, on the other hand, many residents have expressed their displeasure (albeit subdued) shown through social media of their “visitors fatigue” syndrome towards tourists.
They pointed to characteristics of many tourists who defile Baguio and nearby areas cleanliness, throwing their garbage here, there and everywhere despite garbage bins presence or designated places for trash.
Many decry of overburdening of septic tanks and public water system as tourists flock to hotels, inns, renting houses even as provincial and city officials smile pragmatically, knowing fully well tourism is one main pillar in Baguio and Benguet’s economies.
Still, if to digest fully what prompts visitors to clamber up mountains, hills and forests and scrape their knees and shins, then protecting whatever remains of our environment’s ramparts can’t be overemphasized.
For what residents’ clamor is: Intrusion of visitors in excessive numbers and poorly managed tourism cause to disturb biodiversity and ecosystem of any area and can be prime movers to create imbalance in the natural environment of a given locality.
Environmental consciousness among residents stems on conviction that environmental conservation and direct participation from the part of the citizens is pivotal in conserving the environment and keeping a balanced biodiversity and ecosystem.
In fact, it was unveiled by many who have committed to rehabilitating the Balili River Project that broad engagement of the local citizens and strict and proper management of human refuse remains two pillars in safeguarding the river’s environmental degradation, among others.
Despite numerous initiatives to rein environmental degeneration in CAR in these present days, there’s no denying that environment and societal progress are inversely interrelated as the biodiversity and the ecosystem of environment gradually worsens with society advancement.
People’s engagement in tracking biological and environmental change over CAR’s geography is vital to discovering impacts of environmental pollution, land use change, climate change, species survival and ecosystem health.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR-CAR) terms this citizen cooperation as “Environmental Impact Assessment, EIA)” explaining it as an examination, analysis and assessment of planned activities to ensure environmentally sound and sustainable development and includes people’s acceptance to a project.
EIA examples pointed out are activities conducted by both government and private entities on Balili River, spanning 23.81 kilometers and traversing Baguio and the municipalities of La Trinidad and Sablan. It drains into the South China Sea through the town of Bauang. Its main tributary is the Sagudin River which flows along barangay Trancoville in Baguio City.
Efforts to rehabilitate Balili River dates back to the late 1980s and continues until now. What is truly aspiring is: despite Balili River continuing pollution, citizen participation to rehabilitate it remains high.
Stakeholders like Benguet State University, (BSU), Philippine National Police (PNP), other agencies like the military, Local Government Units (LGUs), non-government organizations, private sector and civil society groups have merged to make a difference for Balili River.
These groups exclaim, “They feel great doing something good for the river,” and hoping their move “will change people, in their attitude towards the river and environment.”
One city resident, Oscar Habanes, who, then as student, joined these rehabilitation efforts in the early 1990’s informally termed their Balili river effort as “citizen science.” Habanes is now in business.
Far as Daily Laborer found, citizen science has yet to appear officially in a dictionary. But Internet scrounging for the phrase talks on thousands of projects ranging from conservation, environmental protection, species protection, salt-water protection or any effort speared towards conserving, rehabilitating and making prosper what remains of nature, exactly just like the Balili effort.
Comes again the begging question, what makes people tick towards nature? The psychology behind why some people just seem more inclined to care more about the environment is fascinating, indeed. According to studies, culture has a lot to do with the way people relate to the environment. And the triggers for these actions vary across cultures.
Culture is more likely to be effective in fostering people’s actions to address environmental issues in more individualistic cultural contexts. The assumption then is once people are led to believe in the urgency of environmental issues, they will change and act to address these.
Perhaps, what best illustrates culture relatedness to people’s action on environment issues is Cordillera’s “binnadang” culture deeply embedded among highlander folks. Binnadang, often translated as “bayanihan,” in Tagalog, is known in the Kankana-ey dialect as “ub-ubbo,” ob-obfo,” “og-ogfo,” “adduyon,” or “abbuyog” by other highlander tribal groups.
Binnadang embodies the fortitude of closing ranks to help one another in times of need without expectation of monetary reward, a tradition that has endured Time’s passage and remaining a fundamental part of shared heritage and a vital link to their culture and tradition.
When a big section of national Halsema Highway at sitio Pilando, Buguias, Benguet, sank due to heavy rains, men folks nearby sprang into action, instead of expecting government operation. They mobilized, converged on the more than 50 meters destroyed road, labored relentlessly for days on end, until finally, they carved a temporary path for vehicle passage.
Other residents using Halsema for commercial purposes made sure the working men folks were provisioned properly, adequately by supplying them with food, meat, warm clothing, medicine, fuel for the men to keep warm and other needed accessories.
Community solidarity was amazing for in short notice, said destroyed Halsema Highway portion was opened for vehicular traffic in no less a time that would have taken government contractors a staggering time to fix.
Many of those who, in the past, joined Balili’s rehabilitation declare environmental participation is “unique,” a rather unusual view since most public participation is treated as “regular,” regardless of who the people are, in the participation.
One feature of environmental participation, as Habanes pointed out, is that in a geographical sense, citizen participation stands out for features of the location are important elements for the nature of the problem. For example, Balili River is under threat of extreme pollution.
In such a scenario, Habanes went on to deduce institutional and other informal actors will address a certain environmental problem and local publics will become interested about the outcome and how the issue is managed.
On the other hand, a government entity, accepting earlier mistakes done to manage an environmental problem, will ensure that in helping citizen participation, will rectify errors in pursuing development of the effort being addressed by citizen participation.
One major obstacle seen by citizen participants in implementation of EIA is when there’s insufficient awareness by the public of decisions by policy makers particularly by politicians regarding a scheme, proposal or project.
They pointed to the scenario glaringly apparent in Baguio when some ranking Baguio City Hall officials went public announcing to all and sundry of a proposal by a certain Metro Pacific Tollways Corp to implement a mandatory congestion fee for motor vehicles passing the city’s central business district.
They narrated it caught Baguio people momentarily off-guard. But regaining their composure, they started to question that corporation’s proposal. Therein lay the festering problem.
Instead of first inviting residents to sit with them and solicit their thoughts on what best answers Baguio’s traffic problems, those selling that traffic idea immediately made public such proposal outright.
And said policymakers who decided to go along with the firm’s notion of going public with the proposal, thought citizens will bite the bait, hook line and sinker. It was the opposite; it didn’t sit well with Baguio residents’ majority.
What policy-makers failed to anticipate in the initial phase of deciding to make public that firm’s proposal was public reaction. It was negative.
Least the policymakers could have done in the first place instead, residents insist, was, “for City Hall to formally announce its wishes to invite citizens to forums – or public meetings, if you may — to discuss constructive ways to solve Baguio’s City traffic. All inputs are most welcome; that from these inputs will be borne by a traffic scheme answering Baguio’s traffic woes.”
Residents’ blood pressure boiled due to their non-inclusion to solve a pressing problem affecting them daily, were instead introduced to a firm’s given proposal and nary an input coming from them; they pay a mandatory congestion fee, regardless of how much but it was a given.
Now, the controversial congestion fee proposal, turning into a bone of contention among voters will likely affect their preference for candidates this coming election.