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Thursday, April 13, 2006
Oledan: Collective shame
By Radzini Oledan
Slice Of Life
HOUSES along riverbanks, business establishments along Times Beach, and subdivisions along shorelines of the city are behind the pollution in city beaches, according to the City Environmental and Natural Resources Office.
This brings into focus the urgent need for environmentalists and implementers not just to stress on their bio-diversity efforts or in clean-up activities in coastal areas but also to shift their strategy to genuinely involve barangays in the effort.
Documentation conducted by the Coastal Resource Management-Technical Working Group in various coastal communities reveals the challenges and threats like the conflict in the resource use, as well as barangay-based initiatives to conserve coastal resources.
The small steps taken by barangay folks show their silent persistence to better their lives and sustain whatever gains they have already planted.
But this strength -- the involvement of people who have to live with coastal degradation, including pollution, which also severely affects their livelihood, are often relegated in the sidelines as well-meaning people pursue their various advocacies and program implementation strategies.
Coastal settlements play a large part in the protection and conservation of our resources. Yet, their role should not be limited to mere watchers or fence sitters as we go into conservation efforts. Nor should they be limited to being beneficiaries of coastal resource programs, including solid and waste management.
For the conservation and protection of resources will not be able to stand alone without looking into the intricacies and various factors affecting the livelihood of the thousands who rely on the sea for survival.
It is also the same with the solid waste management, which cannot be limited to hauling of tons of garbage.
These efforts may be too little, and would come too late without the participation of the people in various barangays. Gone are the times when residents have to wait for agencies and other movers to clean up their space. Gone are the days when agencies and environmentalists appear to be messianic, promising solutions to the challenges confronting the coastal resources and the communities.
The upcoming ecological summit is expected to take place, which will be participated in by the private sector, government agencies and environmentalists to draft a common solution to these problems.
The missing element -- the public.
Instead of gathering in posh hotels and restaurants, organizers of the ecological summit may want to consider holding the fora in the coastal barangays, if only to emphasize and solicit the active participation of the real stakeholders.
These coastal communities cannot be relegated to the background as environmentalists and other experts discuss the issues confronting the sector.
Education and information remains to be the only way for communities to understand and appreciate the importance of the coastal resources. It is also the immediate need for everyone to shift their paradigm that natural resources are not finite and the sea should not be the dumping ground of wastes. Come to think of it, coastal settlements are not the only group to be blamed for pollution. The responsibility rests upon all of us. It's a collective shame.
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (April 13, 2006 issue)
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