Tuesday, May 02, 2006
Rehab drive for Liguasan Marsh spins off
KORONADAL CITY -- A different battle is taking place in Liguasan Marsh, a vast wetland lying across the provinces of Sultan Kudarat and North Cotabato in Central Mindanao and Maguindanao in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
It is not a bloody war but one that will save the diverse environs of the 288,000-hectare marshland for the benefit of present and future generations.
Liguasan Marsh, the country's largest wetland, had been the site of major encounters between the government, Moro rebels and lawless elements in the past using its forested portions as lairs.
Tons of bombs have been dropped and bullets fired at the jungle portion of the marshland that severely eroded its environment.
But just recently, two programs aimed at salvaging the marsh from further destruction has been launched at S.K. Pendatun town in Maguindanao.
These are the "Bantay (or watch) Ligawasan Marsh" and the Ligawasan Marsh Reforestation projects.
The Institute of Bangsamoro Studies and the Ligawasan Marsh Research and Development Council initiated the projects that use a "community-based approach to safeguard the natural resources of Liguasan Marsh from human destruction and aim to encourage communities to reforest the marsh through individual and communal efforts."
Aside from community leaders within the wetland, representatives from the Asia Foundation, the United Nations Development Program and the Malaysian-led International Monitoring Team also graced the launching.
Abhoud Syed Lingga, executive director of the Institute of Bangsamoro Studies, said there is an urgent need to protect and conserve the biodiversity and the rich natural resources of Liguasan Marsh.
"With local residents as key stakeholders to prevent the further deterioration of the marsh, we would like to involve everybody on this noble task for the future generations," he said.
According to him, not only the people living in the marsh must be concerned about its environmental condition but also the government, non-government organizations and even foreign donor countries.
Recognized by experts as having an ecologically threatened environment, Liguasan Marsh is an important source of scientific and economic lifeblood in the area.
The marsh teems with aquatic life and inhabited by both large and microscopic plant and animal forms. It is also home to important endemic varieties of flora and fauna and an important bird wetland site.
It acts as depository of water drained from the Cotabato River Basin, which prevents the flooding of the low-lying downstream areas in Central Mindanao.
For Datu Mastura Lumundaw, a farmer from S.K. Pendatun, the conservation efforts at Liguasan enabled him and his family "to start dreaming again."
"The marsh is our main source of livelihood. The rehabilitation will take a long process but we always dream for the best to happen in our marshland," he said.
When Liguasan Marsh's environment was still vibrantly sound, Lumundaw recalled that it was not difficult to catch fish for their family's consumption and more for selling at the markets because there are just plenty of them by then.
He said that there was a time when the waist-deep water in the marsh almost went dry due to the dry spell that hit the area for around eight months, denying his family and thousand others bountiful supply of fish and abundant palay and corn harvests.
With the rehabilitation efforts already cued for the marsh, Lumundaw expects coming droughts to lessen its impact to the marshland.
Datu Muslimin Ampatuan, undersecretary for operations of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in ARMM, said that their office has classified Liguasan Marsh as a natural biotic area.
In 1941, the Bureau of Forestry declared 43,971 hectares of the vast marshland as game refuge and bird sanctuary.
DENR-ARMM secretary Kabuntalan Emblawa said, "I fervently hope that hand in hand with the Institute of Bangsamoro Studies, Ligawasan Marsh Research and Development Council, concerned local government units, native inhabitants of Liguasan Marsh and other stakeholders, we can save Liguasan Marsh."
Admiral Muhammad Som of the IMT, which is overlooking the ceasefire agreement between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, said that Liguasan Marsh contains great oil and mineral reserves "that have become the envy of many."
"The environment programs for Liguasan Marsh indicate the vision and awareness of the present generation of Mindanaoans in preserving Mother Nature for the future generation," Admiral Som said.
Dr. Abas Candao, chairman of the Bangsamoro Development Agency (BDA), said that the "conservation of the natural environment is a moral and ethical imperative and that there is need for these ethical teachings to be backed with legislation and effective enforcement."
BDA is the development arm of the MILF rebels, who are known to seek refuge at the forested portions of the Liguasan Marsh.
According to Admiral Som, the first step in the implementation of reforestation program for Liguasan Marsh "is for everybody to change their mindset."
"Although it is not an easy move, we must realize that we will never reach nor achieve anything in our way to preserve nature unless we tune ourselves to be an environmental friendly users or consumers," he said.
Bringing back Liguasan Marsh to its lost glory and bounty is a tall order.
But with the support shown by some 100 community leaders within the marshland, Lingga of the Institute of Bangsamoro Studies expressed hopes the road ahead will be much easier. (RBS)
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(May 1, 2006 issue)
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