UNESCO Director General writes Ph DFA head and Chairman of the National Commission of the Philippines for UNESCO.

This is the response letter of UNESCO DG Irina Bokowa to Aldaw Palawan’s letter.
Many thanks to ALDAW Palawan for sharing.

UNESCO DG LETTER

The Director-General 18 FEB 2011
Ref.: DG/2.8/11/5864/419

Dear Secretary,

Honorable Dr Alberto G. Romulo
Secretary of Foreign Affairs Chairman of
the National Commission of the Philippines
for UNESCO G/F Department of Foreign Affairs
Bldg. 2330 Roxaz Boulevard Pasay City, Manila Philippines

Over the last few days, I have received over 4000 e-mails from
environmental and indigenous groups voicing concerns over mining
activities in the Palawan Biosphere Reserve, which is located in your
country. As you know, the Palawan Biosphere Reserve was included in
the World Network of Biosphere Reserves in 1990. A sample e-mail is
attached to this letter for your information .

In this context, I wish to invite you kindly to provide a
comprehensive report to UNESCO on the mining situation in the Palawan
Biosphere Reserve, and to inform me on whether current and future
mining activities would have adverse impacts on the core zones of the
biosphere reserve. While mining may occur in buffer and transition
zones of biosphere reserves , it is on the condition that it respects
environmental safeguards and the regulations governing biosphere
reserves, as well as the interests and well-being of local and
indigenous communities.

We would appreciate it if the Philippines authorities could monitor
the situation closely. Ideally, an open meeting with different
stakeholders could be organized so that a constructive dialogue could
be initiated among the various parties concerned, most particularly as
regards environmental conservation, sustainable development and local
and indigenous issues. Should the Philippines authorities so wish, a
UNESCO mission could be fielded to Palawan at an appropriate time to
participate in and contribute to such a process.

I look forward to hearing from you shortly on this issue and take this
opportunity to thank you for your co-operation in implementing
biosphere reserve activities in the Philippines.

Yours sincerely,

Irina Bokowa

“We are squatters in our own land”

simple lives, simple dreams. hut near Bulanjao

this mother showed me her baby’s ulcerated wound.

‘we don’t have any place to go’

Sumbiling smile

three generations of Sumbiling women ” we will live and die here”

streams like this often catch laterites from the mining facility

Sumbiling children playing

Bulanjao ricefield

“We don’t care because we don’t know”

color key: red for threatened bird localities

These maps show how the SEP-core forest protected zones are overlapped with large and small-scale mining applications. The map showing the Philippine forest cover represents the total remaining forest cover, as of year 2000. The PCSD (Palawan Council for Sustainable Development) claims that Palawan’s forest cover is still the largest in the country. It seems impressive, until you look at the entire map of the archipelago. That impressive forest cover are the defined only as mountain forests,excluding the lowland forests. Both kinds are now virtually overlapped with permits to explore and mine.

Beauty and the Beast: mining in Palawan

named after an explorer, the Point is seen from Brooke’s Town

Nothing is sacred from the jaws of mining. Bulanjao’s forest is now threatened by large scale mining

Brooke’s Point’s watersheds are crucial to life for its people

A mining marker within the protected forest

these women and children deserve clean air , water and forests, not a mined-out wasteland

flooded farmlands, Brooke’s Point

flooding in Brooke’s Point, 2010

contaminated soil, Balabac Palawan

two smokestacks release toxic fumes which are inhaled by communities around Rio Tuba

this slope shows visible soil erosion and degradation, Narra

many of the waterways belonging to local farmers are re-routed

test pits, six to sixty feet deep, are often left uncovered or with flimsy fences

the remains of cut trees by mining operators

Illegally cut tree, Gantong

Rio Tuba Mining in Bataraza

Beauty and the beast: mining in Palawan

Iwahig river and the majestic peaks beyond

Iwahig mangroves

Iwahig river firefly tour

Doc Gerry’s presence is all around

One of the 3 dams in Maasin, prone to toxic mine contamination

beautiful and threatened, Brooke’s point under Macro Asia mining claim

with mining in the horizon, what does the future hold for her and her family?

Mang Paquit is visibly anguished at the mining claims on his farmland

Panlima Nelson, a tribal leader is the voice for his community

Beauty and the beast: mining in Palawan

Mangrove forests- life sustaining ecosystems

Palawan has the largest remaining mangrove forests

Mangrove forests though low lying and at shoreline, are as important as mountain forests

the beauty of mangroves seen from the air

The lush old growth forests -fragile and threatened

newly constructed roads

My past Palawan trips have left indelible images of breathtaking beauty and endless adventures above and below its clear blue (or emerald) waters. The past few weeks though, have revealed another side of palawan, as this rich but fragile paradise is under threat by the mineral industry. Since the discovery of nickel, chromite, cobalt and titanium deposits- it has been targetted by the government and mining companies for rapid development, which has attracted large and small scale operators and investors to explore and extract from the north (Malampaya’s natural gas) to south (bulk of nickel-laterite, chromite, copper etc). Mining which is a non-sustainable invasive activity, never did sit well with protection of biodiversity, respect and reverence for nature. Seeing the beauty and the destruction made on the forests has been difficult to stomach, especially when we know what mining has done to the islands of Rapu-rapu, Negros and Cebu. Irrepairable damage, the total lack of rehabilitation (except in the mining industry’s rhetoric) tales of woe from the affected people and toxic contamination are the legacy of mining, which last long after the money is gone. Why is our government hell bent on this despite the disasters? Are we digging out Palawan and going the way of Nauru?

Mangrove forests- life sustaining ecosystems

Balai Drawings

Balai in Mabini Batangas catches the light differently at various hours. I’ve found it to be full of surprises and beautiful nooks, corners and details, and that is just Balai on the surface. Below the water is another story!

Ghost Tree-Nude Tree, Sombrero Island

Chair, sea

from the baul: drawings from Dimakya Island

I dug my old drawings and framed some of them. All were drawn around the area when I was in Dimakya Island, Coron Busuanga.

glass fish

sponge and damsel

rocks, Dimakya

coral, low tide

clouds 1, dimakya

clouds2, dimakya

Clouds over Lang-aw island1

How I started running

Outside the cottage 'dorm' where we lived as students. With my father.

29 years ago, I did my first run, in 1981. I was fifteen, a junior at the Philippine High School for the Arts on the slopes of Mount Makiling in Los Banos. We lived dorm-style inside the campus, which was surrounded by lush tropical forest. I’ve gone on short hikes and countless walks around from the cottages to the cafeteria, to school, then to the studio classrooms (‘Vargas Studio”) and even at night. On weekends when there were no classes, we started Saturdays with an early morning walk from the cottages, down the snaking concrete road, passing the schoolrooms, then the piano rooms, to the school Auditorium, a pyramid-like structure with tile roof, sitting like a castle on a hill and over Laguna Bay and nearby towns below. From the huge imposing pyramid roof, the view of the Bay was breathtaking with its huge expanse. On clear days you can see across the Bay to the Rizal and Sierra Madre range. Outrigger boats were tiny white specks leaving feathery foam on the green water. We would hike back up to the school’s cafeteria for breakfast, another epic steep uphill walk, and the pyramid would seem to grow smaller and shrink into a tiny crimson shape as the dorm got nearer.

One saturday, a friend asked me to ‘jog’ with him before sunrise. I wore my school rubber shoes, cotton shorts and tee. Jogging down in the steely curving inclines was like being pulled by gravity. I don’t remember how fast (or slow) we went but our run was downward and easier on the legs so kept on running until we hit the Auditorium. The cold air caused friction with my legs which made them feel itchy.
There were also these tiny flying bugs which seemed to hang in the air while their wings flapped rapidly, invisible until I swallowed the whole bug with my open mouth. Invisible bugs were a minor nuisance compared to the stink bugs. Once the little green insects ends up smashed or even slighly brushed against your clothing, the strong odor stuck unless washed with soap.

The Auditorium, National Arts Center, Mt. Makiling

http://ibarangs.multiply.com/

At the grass outside the pyramid-auditorium, we walked around and sat down to watch the sunrise, smelled some of the jasmine flowers which grew nearby, and hunted for guavas to eat. We tried running up but got winded soon after. This ‘jogging’ ritual got us hooked, and weekdays became a test of how far we can run and what new things the mountain would reveal. On some days we got as far as the Marvilla guest houses, and discovered rows of miniature guava bushes (with enough crispy fruit to pick), tiny crickets and countless spiderwebs white with dew. One weekend, we got rewarded with a pair of huge turquoise-and-black winged butterflies fluttering from the trees into the road. In June, when the monsoon rains hit heavily, it left hundreds of huge fat earthworms stranded on the concrete road. The poor worms were unable to crawl back into wet soil, and dried up quickly under the sun, leaving crispy brown ‘shells’ of exoskeletons.
Back then we never stretched, and I don’t remember drinking water until after the run. After the post-jog breakfast in the cafeteria, I’d plop down in my bunk bed and nap with my legs propped on the wall. My ballet dancer roommate said that raising the legs after exercise was good for the blood circulation. The dance majors knew most about these things (the were pretty fast and graceful sprinters too) also supplied us with advice on stretching, so we did those too. I wasn’t fast enough to be noticeable (we only jogged on saturdays) by the PE teachers, but all I wanted to do was run in all the PE activities instead of the requisite basketball (which I hated.)
Decades later, I will always look back at my first venture into running, with vivid images that will always be in my memory.

Hanging out with Gab

In Subic, the boys and I went for the Treetop Adventure near JEST with Boy and the kids (special thanks to JC!) Actually, Gab was most game so he and I went for the treetop ride and Superman. We excitedly put on the helmets and harnesses each with chain-like safety attachment.

Gearing up with helmets, harness and cable safety cord

It was humid and very warm as we climbed the stairway to the first tree platform. I have to credit Gab for being so brave at riding in a seat suspended by thin cables, 70 feet off the ground. If you’re 9 years old, never experienced heights this close, the dizzying view from the cable seat is anything but fun! The treetop ride has 4 stages, the first one being the farthest from the ground. Each stage is a slow 25-50 feet travel via cable to the next ‘tree platform’ and gradually getting closer to the ground. At the end of the cable ride, the guests will have to finish the journey by walking back to the ground level. Though he looked frightened at first stage, by the time we hit the last tree, Gab was happily chatting nonstop and requesting a return trip!

here's one tough guy!

Gab the brave!

Our second and last ride was Superman ( two guests are suspended by cable and supported at the torso in a prone position, arms and legs out like the superhero) but the ride had mechanical problems so we went for the “Silver Surfer.”

The latter was a much faster version of Superman, in upright positions while harnessed to a t-shaped metal bar . Once in position, we were ‘zipped’ from ground level to about 50 feet mid-air then ‘swing’ crazily before zipping to the other end, zip from it and swing back and forth.

Walking through the trees

midway swing

whew..glad it's over!