The Cordillera is blessed with rich culture and heritage coupled with good nature and semi-temperate weather that serves as its natural assets worthy of being preserved and protected. Development is actually inevitable because of the growing population caused by migration and inter-marriages although there are also Cordillerans who prefer to migrate to other places, locally or overseas. From its lush forests and mountain ranges, many parts of the uplands have already been converted into commercial vegetable farms that serve as the major source of income of the people while others have become populated communities as people opted to live in harmony with nature.
The region’s rich natural resources serve as a natural pull for local and foreign visitors to flock to the different ecotourism destinations and enjoy the grandeur and beauty of the said places. Evidently, ecotourism is a major economic driver of our region that needs to be maximized for the benefit of the people without compromising the state of the environment so that the present generation will be able to pass on to the future generations a good state of nature for them to be able to continue reaping the fruits of a well preserved and protected ecosystem.
However, one of the greatest concerns that we have in our region is the massive deforestation in rural areas by enterprising residents to establish their respective vegetable farms to be have a sustainable source of income that tend to have a serious negative impact to the state of the environment that had been preserved and protected by our ancestors. Our protected areas such as those within the Mount Pulag National Park, Mount Data National Park and other similarly situated reservations in the region are now rapidly being denuded and converted to vegetable farms to the detriment of the environment. Obviously, our concerned government agencies and law enforcers seem to be helpless in containing the said destructive activities that now contribute to the worsening effects of climate change to our country’s weather patterns. Actually, our country is now suffering from the effects of the changing weather patterns and our agriculture sector is now being negatively impacted by the inability of our people to adjust to the different situations that prevail upon us.
Cordillerans have always been recognized for their ability to live in harmony with nature and because of their traditional ways of preserving and protecting the environment such as the ‘batangan’ system of Mountain Province, the ‘lapat’ system of Apayao and Abra, the ‘moyong’ system of Ifugao among others. The desire to have sustainable sources of income have prompted people to look for ways by which they will be able to continue living in their places while some opted to look for stable jobs outside the comfort zone and migrate to other areas to provide decent living for their families.
We believe there is still time left for us to correct the way we live in harmony with nature. It seems that people have forgotten the importance of nature in our lives, thus, the need for us to start reforming the ways we commune with nature. We must already lessen our efforts in destroying the very environment that feed us and provide comfort in our homes. There is nothing wrong in maximizing the potentials of the environment to provide decent sources of income for the people but there is still a need for us to strike the needed balance between protecting nature and introducing development that are attune with the present times.
People need to rethink on the appropriate ways so that we will be able to co-exist with our environment. Our ancestors were able to do it right that is why we also have to do things right for the sake of our siblings in the future. Our mindset should also be focused on how our children and our children’s children will be able to enjoy the fruits of the environment just as we are enjoying it now because of the good deeds of our forebears.
Let us not ruin the God-given gifts but instead, we must be able to sustain the ongoing efforts of some of us in fighting tooth and nail to inculcate in us the importance of effectively and efficiently living in harmony with nature. We must start going back to the basics of life by using the lessons of the past to be able to chart a better future for us and our children. Let us not fail our siblings by doing what is right now because it is not yet too late in the day. Let us continue to be responsible stewards of our environment instead of being the initiators of destruction and let us not await nature to get back at us as it might lead to the worst scenarios in our lives.
