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A HARIBON Statement on Disasters and the Recent Massive Floods

The Filipino spirit is water-proof. But The Philippines is not. The recent massive flooding that affected large swaths of Central Luzon, Pangasinan, Cavite, Laguna, Rizal, and Metro Manila due to the heavy and intense rainfall resulting from the southwest monsoon or habagat has proven once again that we are in a very vulnerable position. The Philippines ranked Top 3 worldwide in over-all vulnerability to disasters in the WorldRiskIndex, next only to Vanuatu and Tonga, respectively. Vanuatu and Tonga are island nation-states in the Southern Pacific and are only half the size of the Philippines combined. The WorldRiskIndex is part of the World Risk Report 2011 that was jointly published by the United Nations Universitys Institute for Environment and Human Security and several international non-government organizations cooperation. According to the report, the WorldRiskIndex indicates the probability that a country or region will be affected by a disaster. The index is the result of close cooperation between scientists and practitioners. Experts in the analysis of natural hazards and vulnerability research as well as practitioners of development cooperation and humanitarian aid have discussed and developed the concept of the index, (World Risk Report, 2011). This report only confirms what we have long been experiencing as Filipinos: that natural active in humanitarian relief work and development

hazards like typhoons, heavy rainfall, flooding, and likewise droughts are inevitable on this side of the world. The fact remains that due to our countrys geographical location and the topography of our country, we are not spared from the natural hazards that come with these. The scenario is even more aggravated by the global climate change that we are experiencing. However, what should not remain as a fact is the way of life that these natural hazards have imposed on us and the reactionary attitude that disasters resulting from these hazards have spawned in the Filipino consciousness. Strictly speaking, the term natural disaster is a misnomer. Typhoons, heavy rains, tornadoes, and flooding are natural events and natural hazards, part of a continuous hydro-geological cycle that started since life also started on Earth. It is only the human factor, or more specifically, the presence of humans affected by these natural events (hence the more accurate term natural hazards) that make events like the extreme monsoon rains we experienced during the first week of August 2012 as disasters. Some sectors of society are saying that the heavy rains and the flooding is Nature's way of getting back at our excesses. However, we must constantly remind ourselves that our habit of imposing human traits on the environment such as an "angry" Mother Nature is inaccurate. Nature is not vindictive and vengeful. What is happening now is part of a natural cycle that we have disturbed and we have not respected. We have built large dams instead of allowing rivers to flow freely. We have indiscriminately built concrete structures instead of allowing, open spaces such as marshlands and wetlands to thrive. As one Joni Mitchell song goes, we have paved paradise to put up parking lots. But now the parking lots are causing the floods. Nature is not capable of anger. But it is capable of returning what we have given it. For the most part, the disasters that we have experienced are all manmade. We cannot exactly determine how the natural and social dimensions of disasters are in terms of their weights. There is no such thing as 50% natural, 50% social, 100% disaster. But what we know is that the social dimensions of a disaster play a very significant contribution in its making. As one noted environmental lawyer-activist has written about the recent floods: Many reasons have been given: improper drainage, improper garbage disposal, wrong (or no) land use planning, ongoing rapid climate change, etc.

Those are all correct. But the bottom line of why there is flooding is really quite simple: Excess waters have nowhere to go. Every problem contains within itself the seed of its own solution. The solution to flooding is really very simple: Give the excess waters a place to go. That is the function of wetlands, ponds, and lakes, (Oposa, Learning to breathe underwater, Rappler.com, 11 August 2012). To this we add: protect our forests from the threats of deforestation such as large-scale logging and mining. Time and again, Haribon Foundation has reminded Filipinos about the role of forests in mitigating the impacts of climate change and the risks of disasters, especially floods and landslides. Forests are the first line of defence against flooding and landslide. When forests are intact, there is enough holding capacity and the flow of water is controlled, not directly hitting the soil thus reducing the impact of surface runoff. This then minimizes the occurrence of flash floods and landslides. Forest vegetation also plays an important role in water holding and water absorption. Decrease in forest vegetation puts many communities at risk of different hydro-meteorological hazards because of our countrys very close location to the Pacific Ocean. Any increase in sea surface temperature as a result of climate change could affect the weather condition. If the forest cover is small, there will be small amount of rainfall that will be directly intercepted by trees and other vegetation to be stored in the aquifers. Surface run-off occurs mostly in deforested/ cleared areas, resulting to erosion and siltation of the rivers, creeks, and other tributaries. Coupled with improper garbage disposal this in turn lead to the clogging of the waterways and cause flooding. Forest cover plays an important role in the hydrological cycle. The smaller the forest cover, the greater surface run-off will occur. If there is enough forest cover, great amounts of rainwater will be intercepted and stored in the aquifers. This also means that there will be a healthy recharge of ground water for household consumption in the areas that greatly depend on the forests. Just as disasters are not entirely attributed to natural causes, we must also recognize that the extreme weather events that we continue to experience are also driven by human factors. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2007 Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) has already stated that among other observed climatic changes, human influences has more likely than not

increased risk of heat waves, area affected by drought since the 1970s and frequency of heavy precipitation events, (IPCC, 2007). It is then an imperative that the human-influenced and human-induced causes of both climate change and disasters be seriously addressed by all sectors of society, but most especially our government. It is also imperative that climate change mitigation and adaptation measures and disaster risk reduction work be given utmost priority by our government. We believe and support the call for the correct formulation, appropriate legislation at both local and national levels, and proper enforcement of comprehensive land use plans (CLUP) for every city and municipality in the country. Forest restoration should also be included in the Disaster Risk Reduction Management Plans (DRRMP) of communities to mitigate the effects of climate change. We cannot be held hostage by the impacts of disasters. As one scholar in the field of disaster studies has pointed out, societies like ours are characteristic of what he calls as cultures of disasters (Bankoff, 2003), referring to the large amount of historical evidence pointing to the role of disasters in the nations history and culture. This evidence suggests that disasters had also turned back the development clock (Sanderson, 2000) of the Philippines, putting to waste billions of pesos invested in the agricultural, industrial, infrastructure, and service sectors of the Philippines. But we also have the culture of bayanihan, a long-held tradition of mutual cooperation among members of a community. We have in our culture the elements that we can harness to prevent and minimize the impacts of disasters. If we make use of this tradition of bayanihan to extend to protecting and planting more forests, then we have a bigger opportunity to keep ourselves safe from the impacts of disasters. The Philippines is not water-proof. But the Filipino spirit is.