JONG CADION
Chief Correspondent
MINDANAO PILGRIM
PAGADIAN CITY--A book containing a second report on Mining in the Philippines entitled “Mining or Food?” was first launched here on January 21, 2009 at the Diocesan Pastoral Center after 12-months in the making.
The author Robert Goodland and Clive Wicks said in an interview that together with the Working Group on Mining in the Philippines respectfully dedicated this reports to all the courageous and dignified people who have been killed while protecting the environment and upholding human rights in the Philippine archipelago.
The report, commissioned by the British-based Working Group on Mining in the Philippines (WGMP0, chaired by the former minister for international Development, Clare Short MP, Members of the London Working Group on Mining in the Philippines highlights the treat that mining poses to food security with help from many Filipinos who's names we can not mention for safety reasons, the authors said.
The report makes clear how food production will be damaged irreparably if the mining projects on the drawing board go ahead. Six cases studies are documented, including Midsalip, Zamboanga del Sur; Sibutasd, Zamboanga del Norte; Tampakan, South Cotabato and Pujada Bay in Davao Oriental and also ming, food and environment related issues on the islands of Mindoro and Sibuyan.
Once self-sufficient in rice, the Phiulippines is now the world’s biggest importer and with world rice prices tripping in 2008, it has to pay record prices. In a country where two-thirds of the population lives on only $2 a day, this means that more Filipino families are being force into poverty.
The book cited the problem is rooted in the failure to maintain the health of its agricultural sector and to conserve vital natural resources, such as tropical forest and water, which contribute to national rice output. The loss of watershed, for example, has a direct impact on the water supply for irrigation that is so vital for rice farmers. Yet, the Government seems to regard forests purely as a source of
timber and as potential areas for mining.
The stark choices’ facing the Philippines is between a few years of mining and thousands of years of irrigated rice and fisheries production. Mining reduces the options for future generations. The lessons learnt from the 2002-2004 independent World Bank-funded Extractive Industry review have not been heeded in the Philippines.
The report urges a moratorium on new mining projects in the Philippines and the review of existing projects. It points to serious reservation about the practices of the mining companies, many of which have headquarters in Britain and are listed on the London Stock Exchange.
It was on February 2008 when the WGMP asked two environmental experts to visit the Philippines in order to investigate more fully, document and map some key sites targeted for mining.
“We are not against mining provided that the source of food will be protected,” Clive Wicks told this reporter. Wicks has 48 years of experience of working in engineering, agriculture and environment, specializing in the impact of extractive industries on the environment. He chairs IUCN’s Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy, and co-chairs IUCN’s Working group on the Social and Environmental Accountability of the Private Sector. He works in the international environmental movement for the last 24 years, mainly with WWF UK. He headed WWF UK’s African, Asian and Latin America programmes, and represented WWF at G8 World Bank, IFC, UNEP and UNDP meetings on extractive industries. He is concerned about mining activities failing to meet sustainability criteria.
“You have the best Law in the Philippines regarding on the Mining and Environmental protection but, it was not strictly implemented and perhaps violated,” Robert Goodland also said. Goodland is an environmental scientist specializing in economic development. He advised the World Bank Group from 1978 through 2001. he then became a technical director to H.E. Dr. Emil Salim’s independent Extractive Industry Review of the World Bank Groups Portfolio of oil, gas mining projects. He was elected president of the International Association of Impact Assessment, and Metropolis Chair of the Ecological Society of America. He was awarded the World conservation Union’s Coolidge medal in October 2008.
The reports which likewise highlight the clash between the Philippine Government’s rhetoric about supporting agriculture and the crises on the ground will also be launched in the other sites studied and in Manila on February 4, and in London on February 9, 2009.
The 2006 fact-finding team to the Philippines to investigate mining was led by Clare Short MP and published it findings and recommendations n the first reports, Mining in the Philippines: Concerns and Conflicts on January 2007.
The author Robert Goodland and Clive Wicks said in an interview that together with the Working Group on Mining in the Philippines respectfully dedicated this reports to all the courageous and dignified people who have been killed while protecting the environment and upholding human rights in the Philippine archipelago.
The report, commissioned by the British-based Working Group on Mining in the Philippines (WGMP0, chaired by the former minister for international Development, Clare Short MP, Members of the London Working Group on Mining in the Philippines highlights the treat that mining poses to food security with help from many Filipinos who's names we can not mention for safety reasons, the authors said.
The report makes clear how food production will be damaged irreparably if the mining projects on the drawing board go ahead. Six cases studies are documented, including Midsalip, Zamboanga del Sur; Sibutasd, Zamboanga del Norte; Tampakan, South Cotabato and Pujada Bay in Davao Oriental and also ming, food and environment related issues on the islands of Mindoro and Sibuyan.
Once self-sufficient in rice, the Phiulippines is now the world’s biggest importer and with world rice prices tripping in 2008, it has to pay record prices. In a country where two-thirds of the population lives on only $2 a day, this means that more Filipino families are being force into poverty.
The book cited the problem is rooted in the failure to maintain the health of its agricultural sector and to conserve vital natural resources, such as tropical forest and water, which contribute to national rice output. The loss of watershed, for example, has a direct impact on the water supply for irrigation that is so vital for rice farmers. Yet, the Government seems to regard forests purely as a source of
timber and as potential areas for mining.The stark choices’ facing the Philippines is between a few years of mining and thousands of years of irrigated rice and fisheries production. Mining reduces the options for future generations. The lessons learnt from the 2002-2004 independent World Bank-funded Extractive Industry review have not been heeded in the Philippines.
The report urges a moratorium on new mining projects in the Philippines and the review of existing projects. It points to serious reservation about the practices of the mining companies, many of which have headquarters in Britain and are listed on the London Stock Exchange.
It was on February 2008 when the WGMP asked two environmental experts to visit the Philippines in order to investigate more fully, document and map some key sites targeted for mining.
“We are not against mining provided that the source of food will be protected,” Clive Wicks told this reporter. Wicks has 48 years of experience of working in engineering, agriculture and environment, specializing in the impact of extractive industries on the environment. He chairs IUCN’s Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy, and co-chairs IUCN’s Working group on the Social and Environmental Accountability of the Private Sector. He works in the international environmental movement for the last 24 years, mainly with WWF UK. He headed WWF UK’s African, Asian and Latin America programmes, and represented WWF at G8 World Bank, IFC, UNEP and UNDP meetings on extractive industries. He is concerned about mining activities failing to meet sustainability criteria.
“You have the best Law in the Philippines regarding on the Mining and Environmental protection but, it was not strictly implemented and perhaps violated,” Robert Goodland also said. Goodland is an environmental scientist specializing in economic development. He advised the World Bank Group from 1978 through 2001. he then became a technical director to H.E. Dr. Emil Salim’s independent Extractive Industry Review of the World Bank Groups Portfolio of oil, gas mining projects. He was elected president of the International Association of Impact Assessment, and Metropolis Chair of the Ecological Society of America. He was awarded the World conservation Union’s Coolidge medal in October 2008.
The reports which likewise highlight the clash between the Philippine Government’s rhetoric about supporting agriculture and the crises on the ground will also be launched in the other sites studied and in Manila on February 4, and in London on February 9, 2009.
The 2006 fact-finding team to the Philippines to investigate mining was led by Clare Short MP and published it findings and recommendations n the first reports, Mining in the Philippines: Concerns and Conflicts on January 2007.