Sean McDonagh, a priest who worked in the area, said that decades of deforestation Cagayan de Oro City and nearby provinces was to blame for the scale of the disaster. Much of the region was converted from rainforest into

pineapple plantations.

“The deforestation was literally criminal,” he told The Universe Catholic Weekly. “If the rainforest in the area had been left intact, even 12 hours of continuous rain

would not cause this devastation. The rainforest canopy would stop the torrential rain from hitting the ground directly. Trees would also absorb the water.”

“The root cause is the denudation of our forests,” commented one environmentalist. “This is a sin of the past that we are paying now.”

FOREST DESTRUCTION IN

THE PHILIPPINES

Harold R. Watson, a former American agriculturist who had been helping the locals in Mindanao, agreed. “When man sins against the earth, the wages of that sin is death or destruction,” he explained. “This seems to be universal law of God and relates to all of God’s creation. We face the reality of what man’s sins against the earth have caused. We are facing not a mere problem; we are facing destruction and even death if we continue to destroy the natural resources that support life on earth.”

It is impossible to exaggerate the ecological debacle threatening the Philippines. More than 90 years ago, the Philippines was almost totally covered with forest resources distributed throughout the 30 million hectares. These resources provided income, employment, food, medicine, building materials, and water as well as a healthy environment.

According to environmentalists, logging operations – legal and otherwise – are mowing down the country’s remaining forest cover. The Rev. Peter Walpole, executive director of the Ateneo de Manila University’s Environmental Science for Social Change, said the Philippines “trusted” logging companies to cut down trees and manage the forest. “But they did a very bad job,” he decried. “That started the problem that we have now.”

In 1989, the government imposed a lumber export ban in an effort to save the country’s forests from uncontrolled illegal logging. The following year, the ban was quietly lifted, but was reinstated after loud criticism.

DENR, the lead agency responsible for the country’s natural resources and ecosystems, is virtually powerless in stopping rampant illegal logging. It has no guns, no radios, no boats, and only few men to roam the jungles, where they are usually terrorized by armed men or rebels.

The country’s surging population has likewise contributed to the problem. At least a fourth of the total population lives in the upland areas, where most trees are located. Most of them practiced slash-and-burning agriculture (kaingin farming). “These migrant farmers attack virgin forest lands to cultivate the rich soil, which they quickly deplete,” observed Watson. “Then, they move on, looking for more. One day, there is no more.”

“Deforestation is a symptom of a bigger problem,” says Nicolo del Castillo, an architect by profession who teaches at the University of the Philippines. “I probably sound baduy (tacky and outdated) but I see the problem in the prevailing system of values, that is, the greed, the need to be the biggest, the wealthiest, and sometimes you feel hopeless. I am an optimist, but possibly there will be more tragedies and maybe then more people will wake up.”

How many Ormoc tragedy – where almost 5,000 people perished (almost half of them residents of Isla Verde – should happen before Filipinos should heed the warning?

“For over a century, we have waged a relentless assault against our once majestic woodlands,” said ex-Senator Heherson Alvarez. “We have laid to waste millions of hectares of forest land, as though heedless of the tragic examples of the countries of Africa, the Middle East and the Mediterranean, where large areas have become barren, if not desertified. If we have not reached this state, we are almost at the point of irreversibility.”

CAUSES OF FOREST

DESTRUCTION

Urban ConstructionForests are cleared to make way for the expansion of urban areas. Trees are cut

down for lumber that is used for building materials, furniture, and paper products which creates a major impact on forest life. This results in loss of

forest area and massive deforestation.

Agriculture Sometimes, forests are cleared to provide space for growing crops,

building farms, ranches and other lands for agricultural purposes.

Grazing Land

Forests are cut down in order create land for grazing cattle. Huge herds of animals require food and forests are cleared out to make way for grazing lands.

Use for Fuel

Trees are cut down to be used as firewood or turned into charcoal,

which are used for cooking and heating purposes.

Commercial Purposes

Deforestation can also be caused by clearing forests for oil and mining exploitation, making highways and roads, slash and burn farming techniques, wildfires, and acid rain. Forest fires can occur naturally or in most cases are deliberate attempts by man to clear huge forests. These forests can still recover, but usually the cleared land is used for construction and agriculture purposes. This leads to loss of forests and loss of habitat for the local wildlife.

Illegal Logging Many government agencies are fighting illegal logging to

protect the forests. However, any type of logging legal or illegal leads to deforestation. Trees are cut down indiscriminately by logging companies, to fulfill the demands of the wood market. This does not give a chance to the local wildlife and trees to regenerate and sustain themselves which leads to loss of wildlife forever.

Effects on Wildlife and Human

SocietyErosion

When the soil is exposed to the sun upon deforestation, it becomes very dry and infertile due to the loss of nutrients. When there is rainfall, it washes away the rest of the nutrients, which flow with the rainwater into waterways.

Replanting trees may not help in solving the problems caused by deforestation. By the time the trees mature, the soil will be totally devoid of essential nutrients. As a result, the land will not be suitable for cultivation and will become useless. Large tracts of land will be rendered permanently impoverished due to soil erosion.

Disruption of the Water Cycle Trees help maintain the water cycle in various ways. They

absorb water through their roots, which is then released into the atmosphere. A large part of the water that circulates in the ecosystem of rainforests, for instance, remains inside the plants.

When these trees are cut down, the climate will get drier in that particular area. The groundwater tables are affected and will soon get depleted. The trees help in prevention of running off of water and help the soil absorb the flowing water. When there are no trees, water just runs off, leaving no chance for the groundwater tables to absorb more water which will eventually lead to reduction in water resources.

Loss of Biodiversity Tropical rainforests only take up to 6 percent of the

surface area of the Earth, where about 80-90 percent of the entire species of the world exist. Due to massive deforestation, about 50 to 100 species of animals are being lost each day. This leads to the extinction of animals and plants on a massive scale. The animals not only lose their habitat and protective cover, but they are also pushed to extinction.

Flooding and Drought Forests can function to absorb and store great amounts

of water quickly when there are heavy rains. When forests and trees are cut down, this regulation of the flow of water is disrupted, which leads to alternating periods of flood and then drought in the affected area, leading to increased risks for people living nearby.

Climate Change Trees act as a storage place for carbon, since they absorb carbon dioxide

from the atmosphere, which is then used to produce carbohydrates, fats, and proteins that make up trees. When deforestation occurs, many of the trees are burnt or they are allowed to rot, which results in releasing the carbon that is stored in them as carbon dioxide. This, in turn, leads to greater concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Solution / Prevention

FarmingNew methods for farming such as high-yield hybrid crops, greenhouse,

autonomous building gardens, and hydroponics are being developed for more intensive farming.

Forest Management

Since it has long been known that deforestation can cause environmental damage enough in some cases to cause societies to collapse, several forest management strategies have been implemented in several countries throughout centuries.

In Tonga, paramount rulers developed policies designed to prevent conflicts between short-term gains from converting forest to farmland and long-term problems forest loss would cause,

During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in Tokugawa Japan, the shoguns developed a highly sophisticated system of long-term planning to stop and even reverse deforestation of the preceding centuries through substituting timber by other products and more efficient use of land that had been farmed for many centuries.

In sixteenth century Germany, landowners also developed silviculture to deal with the problem of deforestation. However, these policies tend to be limited to environments with good rainfall, no dry season and very young soils(through volcanism or glaciation). This is because on older and less fertile soils trees grow too slowly for silviculture to be economic, whilst in areas with a strong dry season there is always a risk of forest fires destroying a tree crop before it matures.

Reforestation On the slopes of the volcano Mount Malindang on the island of

Mindanao in the Philippines Trees for All together with the local population is restoring the forest. The remaining forest higher up on the slopes has a very high level of biodiversity. By planting a protecting ring of new forest around this remaining old forest, the existing biodiversity will be conserved and other species that were driven away will find a new habitat.

The higher slopes were in 2004 reserved as a 'Natural Park' by the government, however money for reforestation was not available. In 2008, through the contribution of Trees for All this reforestation could finally start. The project has started small scale with 50 hectares per year, but with the option to extend, even to surrounding volcanoes.

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The National Park has a surface of more than 53 thousand hectares, of which only 33 thousand is remaining forest. Around 4000 families still live in the Park under very difficult conditions. The deforestation that took place in the 20th century has led to big scale erosion, floods and mud streams, which have been devastating for the agriculture that takes place down slope.

The trees will be planted and will grow into a forest, the biodiversity will be restored but for the moment we will not have the CO2 sequestered certified. The certification process is very expensive and we want to keep the project affordable.

Forest Plantations

As suggested by forestry writers Botkins and Sedjo, high-yielding forest plantations can meet the world’s demand for wood. Calculation shows that plantations yielding 10 cubic meters per hectare annually could supply all the timber required for international trade on 5 percent of the world's existing forestland. By contrast natural forests produce about 1-2 cubic meters per hectare, therefore 5 to 10 times more forest land would be required to meet demand.

EXECUTIVE ORDER NO.23 Declaring a moratorium on the cutting and harvesting of

timber in the natural and residual forests and creating the anti-illegal logging task force

Section 1. Definition of terms. For the purpose of this Executive Order, the following terms shall be defined

1.1 Forest Land – it includes public forest or forest reserves, and forest reservations.

1.2 Natural and Residual Forests – are forests composed of indigenous trees, not planted by man.

1.3 Plantation Forest – is a forest where the trees were planted pursuant to a management agreement with the DENR.

1.4 Integrated Forest Mangement Agreement (IFMA) – is a production sharing contract entered into by and between the DENR and qualified applicant wherein the DENR grants to the latter exclusive right to develop, manage, protect and utilize a specified area of forest land and forest resources therein for a specified period consistent with the principle of sustainable development and in accordance with an approved Comprehensive Development and Management Plan (CDMP)