BAGUIO CITY – There happens to be, in our midst, environmentalists, many of which are vocally combative and often inflexible when it comes to environmental issues. That is good. For the indicate a promising force for environmental sustainability, social impact of economic activities and development.
But they need to negotiate a truce with development planners both from the public and private sectors, if they are to achieve their goals.
For environmental management and regional development have compatible goals.
There is this long-held view of environmentalists that they are for the non-use of resources and are enemies of development advocates.
Non-use of resources is an early environmental concept and the sooner it dies, the better.
In this life and in this world, in this universe, non-use can translate to death. But environment management is the use of resources, the sustainable use of resources and the governance challenge.
We can only glean from world expert bodies on environment like United Nation Environment Programme (UNEP) advising environmentalist activists to seek an understanding with economic planners, particularly those in government, otherwise their work environment management will go by default.
There is such a thing as environmental management for development. This refers to the use of resources alongside maintenance of future resource levels.
If one is to note that resources of the environment are also the resources of development, then there is underscored the environment-development relationship
We are now far away from the concepts where we talk of the environment as pollution. On the contrary, the environmentalist is concerned with the resources of the environment and the management of these resources.
And these resources are the resources of development; the hard-core foundational resource of any economic development.
Cordillera Administrative (CAR) regional economists, politicians and other authorities are also slowly coming to grips with the fact that sustained growth depends not only on fiscal or financial magnitudes but on real resource magnitudes.
Sad to say that some who consider themselves environmentalists fail to do their duty by studying issues and thus, fall down the pit by unfortunately becoming ignorant of some facets of Cordillera economic development.
For example, while it had always been underscored that poverty is the most serious environmental degradation in the Philippines, it took a while before the fight against poverty was finally integrated into environmental programs. This is a fact.
We talked of poverty but our programs were never integrated. At certain levels of poverty, the only sensible environment program is an economic development program.
In certain specific situations, development is the only environmental program. Development, economic development is for the creation of a livable environment.
While it is conceded that development can have adverse impacts, too much of these adverse impacts are because you and this columnist, as environmentalists, are not doing our job in resource management.
Advancing the concept that economic development is the creation of a livable environment, CAR has a need for more, not less, resources for development expected to enhance its environment.
The poor or those in want cannot be told that environment management means sitting back and having a clean surrounding and authorities should see the strong points of both environment and development.
There are some things in the environment that regional economists fail to see and appreciate for the sake of good change. It is this gap that creates the whole problem.
It is unfortunate that a communication gap exists between development and environment people in CAR because they do not know where to start what to talk about and brusquely, they have no time for each other.
A very good example to this glaring fact is about the proposed modernization of the Baguio City Public Market.
During the latest public consultation, Mayor Benjamin Magalong, in the company of some city officials and officers of SM Baguio, spearheaded a presentation of the possible merits of the proposed plan if such will eventually be pursued. It was the seventh public consultation.
But during the open forum, a vendor. – a former academician — stood up and exhorted the city government to not merely concentrate on the economic benefits of the project but to consider the social, cultural, heritage and historic value of the public market.
The vendor-academician specifically stated, among others: “Sa mga tao po dito, papano ba natin tinitignan ang Baguio public market papunta sa atin. Kasi kung tinitignan lang natin siya sa ecomic na aspeto, hindi po ganoon. Kasi ang public market a heritage, tawid po yan. Kaya lahat po tayo, dapat magdecision kung paano siya pamahalaan at saka isaayos para ganoon ay ummayon siya innovation sa buong mundo.”
“Sana po tingnan ang social, cultural contribution ng Baguio public market kasi pinagpaguran yan ng naunang pumunta sa Baguio. Is it only of economic value or do we also look at its cultural, economic and political because we have to decide, kasi po kami bomoboto rin kami kung sino ang maging lider namin. . ..”
“Kung paano ang ikabubuti or “siged” (Cordillera word for good) We have the siged, because Baguio is multicultural, multinational pa nga, eh,” the academician concluded
Not one member of the panel stood up to voice his/her opinion or rebut what the ademecian said, even when the master of ceremony asked if there was a reaction from the panel members. Rightly, the issues of social, cultural, heritage and historic values also lean towards environmental scope.
In reality, during the presentation, not one of the subjects raised by the unidentified academic vendor was covered during the presentation to the assembly.
What occurred during the seventh consultation was there was nothing inherent that the planners steered either towards environmental protection but only towards economic development.
Planners (both environmentalists and economists) would benefit both from integrating social theory as espoused by the academician-vendor with environmental thinking and from combining their substantive skills with techniques for community conflict resolution, to confront economic and environmental injustice.
Current environmental enthusiasm among planners may suggest their innate predisposition to protect the natural CAR environment. However, the opposite is more likely true; our historic tendency has been to promote the development of Baguio as a city, La Trinidad and other areas in CAR at the cost of natural degradation.
To build roads, we have to clear forests. To continue with economic activities, we continue building edifices. We foul existing rivers. To have mobile convenience, we buy motor vehicles, jam existing roads and pollute the air from vehicle exhaust. Environmentalists and economic planners agree these activities are part and parcel of development.
The environmentalist sees a city or municipality in CAR as a consumer of resources and producer of waste and that these areas are in competition with nature for scarce resources and land and poses a threat to nature.
Space is the ecological space of greenways, river basins or ecological niches.
On the other hand, development planners see cities or municipalities in CAR as a distribution point of resources, of services and of opportunities. Competition is within the city or municipality and among different social groups.
Space is the social space of communities, neighborhoods, access and segregation.
What the two are at odds of reconciling is how to further grow economies in CAR and in the process, not to further degrade the ecosystem.
We live in the milieu of surmises where one side thinks the other is killing in the name of the marketplace, in terms of maximum exploitation of resources and production. And the other side thinks that the environment is nothing much better than pollution control and conservation of resources.
We, as environmentalists, should put across to economists the relationship of resource management to development.
Environment is in the mainstream of rapid development by stabilizing resources and by helping maximize development and welfare. It is not contributory to poverty situations, development or sustainability.
For sustainability, it can be a helpful concept in that it posits the long-term planning-goal of social environment and economy in balance. It is a unifying concept for environmentalists and that brings together many different environmental concerns to the envelope of development.
Perhaps, it is timely for both environmentalists and economic development planners in CAR to sit together and bring issues for public consultations for all to understand not to invest in exploitation of CAR forests and mountains or areas in Baguio City or La Trinidad unless actual care is integrated in such endeavors.
Also maybe what is needed is for insistence on obedience to existing laws, national policies and local counterparts which all seek to protect the environment and giving leeway for economies to grow which would benefit the next generation. This would make the difference by taking the challenge without let-up.
