By Jonathan L. Mayuga - April 25,
2017
While Environment Secretary Regina
Paz L. Lopez has shown much enthusiasm in implementing her so-called
area-development approach and biochar livelihood program, mining companies
appear to be oblivious about it.
Ronald Recidoro, vice president for
policy and planning of the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines (COMP), which
represents the mining industry’s big players, for one, said mining companies
have not seen the program’s “blue print” and how the Department of Environment
and Natural Resources (DENR) plans to implement the program in mining
communities.
“There are a few mining companies
that entered into an agreement with [the] DENR, but most are still unaware of
the specifics,” he told the BusinessMirror in a telephone interview.
The DENR is aggressively promoting
its concept of area development through the sustainable integrated area
development (SIAD) and biochar program as part of its thrust to turn the DENR
from a mere regulatory into a development agency.
Lopez, an environmental advocate who
has ordered the closure or suspension of 28 operating mines so far as a result
of a mining audit last year and cancellation of 75 mining contracts to protect
watersheds, wants the agency to shift from a mere regulatory agency to a
development-oriented one under her watch.
Recidoro said COMP member- companies
and even players outside the group are not aware of the specifics as to mining
companies’ would-be roles.
He said mining companies are willing
to see Lopez’s plan in black and white for them to appreciate the shift.
“We’ve only heard about it from
Secretary Lopez through the media. But we really still don’t know how it will
help mining or the people in mining communities,” he said.
Likewise, he said the DENR chief’s
plan to apply the biochar technology should be discussed thoroughly with mining
companies.
“What I know about charcoal-making
is it is produced by burning. So are we burning materials now to make
charcoal? What’s the technology? Who is going to make biochar?”
Recidoro said.
“Even if it works, it should not be
monopolized in such a way that it will benefit one company or group,” he added.
Environmental groups under the
Kalikasan-People’s Network for the Environment (Kalikasan-PNE) group are also
unaware of the details of SIAD or biochar.
Clemente Bautista, national
coordinator of Kalikasan-PNE said their group will request for an audience with
Lopez to know more about SIAD and biochar. They said they need to know more as
to how it will help boost the livelihood of rural folks, particularly in
mining-affected areas.
“I’ve heard about it from Secretary
Gina, but I still do not know the details of the program. Maybe we need
to know more about it first,” Bautista said.
Kalikasan-PNE supports Lopez’s
antimining stance and her proenvironment policy, such as the dismantling of
fish cages in Laguna de Bay.
The group also supports Lopez’s idea
of promoting social justice by giving premium to environmental protection and
conservation, while promoting the welfare of the communities who seldom benefit
while being at the losing end of destructive development projects.
The antimining group, Alyansa Tigil
Mina (ATM), meanwhile, welcomes Lopez’s plan to implement SIAD.
Jaybee Garganera, national
coordinator of ATM, said it is an “innovative approach” and is welcomed by many
civil-society organizations (CSOs) and even local government.
“My impression is that there is a
positive synergy and positive reaction from the departments of Health,
Agriculture, Social Welfare and Development and even Education working
together in specific geographic sites,” he said.
Garganera said he knows of the
general framework of SIAD wherein the DENR will download programs in selected
and specific sites, with the community and even local government units
having broader and direct participation in managing their natural resources.
“This is very participatory.
Even agencies outside [the] DENR welcome this approach,” he said.
According to Garganera, SIAD is
popular among CSOs.
Garganera said he became familiar
with SIAD because of his previous engagement with the Philippine Partnership for
Development of Human Resources in Rural Areas, which implemented it as
a main strategy for development from 2001 to 2006.
“That is why when Secretary Lopez
mentioned about SIAD, I know what she’s talking about,” Garganera said.
However, he said he is still unaware
of the details of how the DENR chief plans to execute SIAD.
“We plan to seek an audience with
her about it to learn more,” Garganera added.
In an interview with Lopez during
her interaction with mining-affected communities in Mogpog and Santa Cruz town
in Marinduque on Monday, Lopez said area development simply means the people
will be given jobs, livelihood and benefit from the natural resources, which
they will protect and conserve.
Lopez said in rehabilitating
abandoned or mined-out areas, biochar will be used by the DENR under her watch,
but expressed concern that without former DENR Undercretary for Field
Operations Philipp Camara, may prove to be a tough job.
“Only Philipp knows how to make
biochar work. The DENR doesn’t know anything about biochar,” Lopez said.
Camara’s appointment was rejected by the Civil Service Commission and a protest
launched by DENR employees forced Camara to quit his bid for the position.
Lopez said she intends to talk to
Camara to convince him to help the DENR in his capacity as a private
individual.
Last month the DENR issued policy
guidelines for the two major programs—the SIAD and biochar programs—which it
says were “designed to provide communities with sustainable livelihood
opportunities while protecting the environment”.
Department Administrative Order
(DAO) 2017-02 calls for the formulation and implementation of a six-year SIAD
action plan by the government, civil society and the private sector, and DAO
2017-05 laid down the guidelines on the implementation of the biochar program,
an initiative that uses the SIAD approach.
Lopez said the SIAD strategy aims to
apply area-based interventions, concepts on its natural resources development
programs including the Enhanced National Greening Program and integrated
island development.
SIAD will cover, but is not limited
to, river basins and watersheds, and will be initially implemented within 29
priority sites and expansion areas identified by the DENR last year. SIAD
shall also be implemented in other areas of the Philippines, Lopez said.
Meanwhile the biochar program calls
for the efficient utilization of abundant agricultural waste materials into
marketable products created by rural communities for green energy, soil
enhancement, mine revegetation, and a host of environmental products and
services, making it a remarkable climate-change mitigation technology with a
poverty alleviation through community enterprise.
Biochar is charred biomass strictly
from agricultural wastes like rice hull and straw, bagasse, pili shell, mango
seed, coconut husk and shell and corn cobs, which are produced by high heating
(>500 degrees Celsius) with very limited oxygen.
Lopez said biochar has 52 known
uses, including as feed additive in animal farming, carbon fertilizer,
insulator, protection against electromagnetic radiation, water decontaminant,
biomass additive, ingredient in cataplasm for insect bites and abscesses,
fabric additive for functional underwear and filling for mattresses and
pillows.
Biochar also draws carbon from the
atmosphere, providing a carbon sink on agricultural lands. After its initial or
cascading use, biochar can be recycled as soil conditioner.
