Environmental Protection, Conservation, and Rehabilitation

[Nabartek]

Originally Posted by GodIsNotGreat

http://www.chicagotribune.com/busine...,1598091.story

Bill Gates is betting the toilet of the future for the developing world will be solar powered.

The world's leading private philanthropist handed a $100,000 prize to the California Institute of Technology on Tuesday for its work on a self-contained, sun-powered system that recycles water and breaks down human waste into storable energy.

His foundation announced $3.4 million in new funding on Tuesday for toilet projects being worked on by various organizations, bringing total investment in its "Reinvent the Toilet Challenge" to about $6.5 million.

A solar powered toilet.... wait, are we gonna poo outside?


Kidding aside, if this projects succeed, this is really ground breaking. Who knows, household poo could eliminate expensive monthly electric bills

[rain34]

Sting forces venue switch in Philippines tree row

Agence France-Presse
October 20, 2012 | 1:47 am


Sting

MANILA, Philippines—Rock superstar Sting has forced organisers to move his planned one-night show in the Philippines to another Manila venue amid a spat over pine trees involving the original hosts, it was announced Friday.

The Manila leg of his “Back to Bass Tour” on December 9 will now be hosted by Araneta Coliseum, instead of Mall of Asia Arena as originally announced, said his official website www.sting.com.

Earlier in the day, the local concert promoters informed the Arena that Sting had called off his show there, Arena general manager Arnel Gonzales said.

Read more: http://entertainment.inquirer.net/63...pines-tree-row

[Parchie]

So what? Is climate heating up or cooling down?

For years there has been a strong divide between those that believe mankind is causing global warming and those that don't.

Now there is evidence that leading global warming scientists have been misleading the world for years, hiding - and possibility erasing - data that provides the earth has been cooling for the last 10 years.

Background
The Climatic Research Unit (CRU) is a component of the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England. Founded in 1972, the CRU has been one of the leading institutions studying the study of natural and anthropogenic climate change (i.e. caused or produced by humans).

The small group of scientists who work with the CRU have been the most influential group driving the worldwide alarm over global warming. The CRU has reported the average temperature of the globe has been rising for the last 150 years. The have predicted that the world will warm to catastrophic levels unless trillions of dollars are spent to avert it. Their work is at the heart of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

What recently happened
The CRU collects climate data from sources around the world, but has never shared the raw data with the public.

Over the last year, the CRU has received numerous Freedom of Information requests for the raw data that all of the CRU's science and dire warnings were based upon. No raw data has been released.

This month, hackers broke into a server at the CRU and stole a large quantity of data, including more than 1,000 emails and more than 2,000 other documents, dated from March 1996 to November 2009.

The stolen emails, now public, document how the scientists kept contrary views out of peer-review literature, and worse yet, conspired to manipulate data to strengthen the evidence for anthropogenic climate change.

The University of East Anglia has confirmed the server's security breach. Dr. Phil Jones, Director of the CRU, has now confirmed that all of the leaked emails appear to be genuine.

What did the emails say?
In the emails, Dr. Jones mentions he was willing to delete the climate data file rather than sending it to a pair of skeptics that were interested in reviewing the research.

Here are some excerpts that were put together by the National Post:

From Phil Jones, head of the Climatic Research Unit at East Anglia University, to Ray Bradley, Michael Mann, and Malcolm Hughes, three U.S. scientists who have produced the controversial “hockey-stick graphs” that purport to show rapidly increasing temperatures in recent decades. Nov, 16, 1999.

“I’ve just completed Mike’s Nature trick of adding in the real temps to each series for the last 20 years (i.e. from 1981 onwards) and from 1961 for Keith’s to hide the decline.”

From Kevin Trenberth, a lead author with the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, to Michael Mann, on Oct 12. 2009. The email, titled “BBC U-turn on climate,” laments a BBC article that reversed its long-held position on man-made global warming.

“The fact is that we can’t account for the lack of warming at the moment and it is a travesty that we can’t. ... Our observing system is inadequate.”

From: Michael Mann, Oct 27, 2009

“Perhaps we’ll do a simple update to the Yamal post... As we all know, this isn’t about truth at all, its about plausibly deniable accusations.”

From: Edward Cook, June 4, 2003

“I got a paper to review (submitted to the Journal of Agricultural, Biological, and Environmental Sciences), written by a Korean guy and someone from Berkeley, that claims that the method of reconstruction that we use in dendroclimatology (reverse regression) is wrong, biased, lousy, horrible, etc. ... If published as is, this paper could really do some damage … It won’t be easy to dismiss out of hand as the math appears to be correct theoretically (...) I am really sorry but I have to nag about that review — Confidentially I now need a hard and if required extensive case for rejecting.”

From: Tom Wigley, Sep 27, 2009

“So, if we could reduce the ocean blip by, say, 0.15 C, then this would be significant for the global mean — but we’d still have to explain the land blip. I’ve chosen 0.15 here deliberately. This still leaves an ocean blip, and i think one needs to have some form of ocean blip to explain the land blip (via either some common forcing, or ocean forcing land, or vice versa, or all of these).”

From: Phil Jones, Feb 2, 2005

“The two MMs [Canadian skeptics Steve McIntyre and Ross McKitrick] have been after the CRU station data for years. If they ever hear there is a Freedom of Information Act now in the UK, I think I’ll delete the file rather than send to anyone.”

From: Phil Jones, May 29, 2008

“Can you delete any emails you may have had with Keith re AR4? Keith will do likewise. He’s not in at the moment – minor family crisis. Can you also email Gene and get him to do the same? I don’t have his new email address. We will be getting Caspar to do likewise.”

From: Keith Briffa, Sep 22, 1999

“I know there is pressure to present a nice tidy story as regards ‘apparent unprecedented warming in a thousand years or more in the proxy data’ but in reality the situation is not quite so simple. We don’t have a lot of proxies that come right up to date and those that do (at least a significant number of tree proxies ) some unexpected changes in response that do not match the recent warming.”

From: Michael E. Mann, Mar 11, 2003

“I think we have to stop considering Climate Research as a legitimate peer-reviewed journal. Perhaps we should encourage our colleagues in the climate research community to no longer submit to, or cite papers in, this journal. We would also need to consider what we tell or request of our more reasonable colleagues who currently sit on the editorial board.”

From: Tom Wigley, Apr24, 2003

“Mike’s idea to get editorial board members to resign will probably not work — must get rid of von Storch too, otherwise holes will eventually fill up with people like Legates, Balling, Lindzen, Michaels, Singer, etc.”

From: Phil Jones, July 5, 2005

“If anything, I would like to see the climate change happen, so the science could be proved right, regardless of the consequences. This isn’t being political, it is being selfish.”

Read all of the e-mails:
Alleged CRU Emails - Searchable [8]

The files that were leaked also include the Fortran code the CRU's climate models are based upon. Now that this code is public, people worldwide are pulling the code apart and coming to the same conclusion - the computer models themselves appear to be jerry-rigged and deeply flawed.

Why would the scientists and the CRU lie?

Why would Dr. Jones want to convince the world that global warming is real? Only Dr. Jones knows the answer. Was it a case of believing something so much he was willing to manipute data to support an idea? Some believe the answer is in the $22.6 million Dr. Jones has collected in research grants since 1990.

What now?

The CRU has now said they will release any data they have, but that most of the original data was deleted in the 1980's. Due to a lack of data storage availability, the CRU opted to save only “value-added” data, that is, numbers that have been manipulated. If this is true, and no original climate raw data exists, it is now impossible for anyone to replicate the findings of the CRU.

If all anthropogenic global warming theories are based on data and models that are now proven to be worthless, or non-existent, what does that mean now?

Does it mean we don't have to fear the dire warnings that the polar ice caps are melting? That the polar bears will soon be extinct? What about carbon credits?

Media coverage

Now being dubbed "Climategate", editorials in newspapers around the world are questioning why politicians and the UN have yet to acknowledge the damning evidence that man-made climate change science is bunk.

Lorrie Goldstein, of the Toronto Sun, wrote:

If you're wondering how the robot-like march of the world's politicians towards Copenhagen can possibly continue in the face of the scientific scandal dubbed "climategate," it's because Big Government, Big Business and Big Green don't give a s*** about "the science."

They never have.

What "climategate" suggests is many of the world's leading climate scientists didn't either. Apparently they stifled their own doubts about recent global cooling not explained by their computer models, manipulated data, plotted ways to avoid releasing it under freedom of information laws and attacked fellow scientists and scientific journals for publishing even peer-reviewed literature of which they did not approve.

Read more: Why 'climategate' won't stop greens" [9] (Toronto Sun)

Most of the outcry about ClimateGate is appearing in editorials, blog posts, and alternative news websites, most of the mainstream media has completely ignored this story despite the growing public outcry.
(snipped)

[mahadlikha]

Global Warming is a natural phenomenon. Worsening the precarious situation with further folly of manmade pollution like coal plant that you're a lapdog with is the culprit. Already Global warming induced warm sea surface temperatures SST furthermore exacerbated by thermal waste water flushed from your coal plants may trigger drastic and alarming consequences as water at high temperature expand at molecular level intesifying typhoons and worsening floods at record level, just as what occurred with the Sendong tragedy.

[Monchhichi]

Philex spill ‘biggest mining disaster’ in PHL, surpassing Marcopper – DENR

(Exclusive) After months of recurring leakages, the Philex mine spill in Benguet has become the “biggest mining disaster” in the Philippines in terms of volume, but the company is seeking a clean-up option instead of paying the hefty fine of P1 billion, officials said.

Some 20 million metric tons of sediments have flowed into water channels from the Philex tailings pond in Itogon since its drainage tunnel was breached last August, according to a report from the Mines and Geosciences Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (MGB-DENR).

This is ten times more than the volume of mine tailings that spilled out of the Marcopper mine in 1996 in Marinduque, which dumped some two million metric tons of waste into the Boac River and is still considered the worst mining disaster in terms of toxicity. Residents along the 27-kilometer Boac River lost their fishing livelihood and diseases have afflicted the community after the incident.

“In terms of volume, ito [Philex mine tailings spill] ngayon ‘yung biggest mining disaster in the Philippines,” MGB chief Leo Jasareno told GMA News Online in an exclusive interview last Friday.

Philex spokesperson Atty. Eduardo Aratas affirmed the statement: “Because of the volume [of the leak], it is really the biggest. But on the toxicity, it is not.”

Mining officials are still studying the toxicity levels of the wastes from the gold and copper mine that were deposited in nearby waterways after heavy monsoon rains led to a major breach in its drainage tunnel last August 1. About five "minor" recurrences have been reported since then, Jasareno said.

This week, the bureau is set to conduct a socio-environmental impact assessment of the tailings pond leak to determine the extent of the damage.

The DENR has slapped a hefty P1-billion fine, almost as much as the mining firm's taxes last year, on one of the country’s largest producers of gold and copper.

But Philex is reluctant to pay up, arguing that, “forces of nature cannot be prevented 100 percent.”

Aratas asserted, “Ang sinasabi ng management, sige if you fine us tapos na dapat [‘yung responsibility]. Or, if you order us to clean up, then gagawin namin ‘yun.”

The MGB chief is standing pat on the penalty. “Ang contention kasi ng Philex pagka-force majeure hindi sila dapat magbayad ng P1 billion. [Pero] dun sa provision ng Mining Act na kung saan namin hinugot yung parusa… wala namang nakalagay na hindi ka magbabayad kung force majeure,” Jasareno explained.

Balog Creek ‘biologically dead’

The penalty for violating other environmental laws – such as the Clean Water Act – will be imposed separately on Philex, Jasareno said. This will cost about P50,000 per day, in addition to a clean-up plan for the rehabilitation of damaged waterways.

The company has said that torrential monsoon rains caused a breach in its Tailings Pond 3 -- the largest in the country at 80 hectares -- which can hold up to 160 million metric tons of wastewater and sediments from the mining operations.

The leakage in what is currently the only operating tailings pond of Philex spilled waste into nearby water channels, particularly Balog Creek, which flows into the Agno River.

Last October, an environmental investigative mission declared Balog Creek "biologically dead" after it suffered the worst of the discharge, which was deposited along the 2.5-kilometer water channel.

The creek had turned gray, with the riverbed full of mud and the water brownish in color. There were no signs of frogs, dragonflies, aquatic plants or moss. The water was too murky to spot any fish.

According to the Philex spokesperson, the company is aware that the mining leak weighs heavily on the public’s perception of mining operations in the country.

“Ang face ng mining will be at stake [dito]. Ayaw din namin na i-fail,” said Aratas. “Hindi lang Philex kasi ito. We are carrying the burden of proving that mining is really responsible.”

Trust fund for communities

Jasareno said the fines would be placed in a trust fund that will be used to pay for the claims of affected residents or communities.

The MGB director added that the 57-year-old company would not be allowed to continue its operations “unless they are able to undertake the necessary remediation measures provided by law.”

“Dapat i-remedy nila, otherwise di [sila] bibigyan ng permit,” he pointed out.

According to Aratas, the company managed to plug the leak last September, but its operations remain suspended pending the clean-up of the mining spill.

In early October, President Aquino referred to the mining disaster, without naming Philex directly, when he told the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines that reforms were needed in the mining law:
"In terms of revenues, our position is government gets something like less than 10 percent of what they (mining companies) make. But we have a hundred percent if there is a problem that crops up, meaning, for instance, one of the oldest firms – of mining firms – in the country suffered multiple failures of their tailings pond, and that redounds to quite a significant impact on the environment.

"We still stick with our position that there has to be a reformulation of the governing law with regards to the mining industry. And we would rather not continue the situation or also the risks until the remedies or the corrections in the mining laws will be corrected." – YA/HS, GMA News
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story...per-ndash-denr

[Parchie]

Originally Posted by Monchhichi

Philex spill ‘biggest mining disaster’ in PHL, surpassing Marcopper – DENR

(Exclusive) After months of recurring leakages, the Philex mine spill in Benguet has become the “biggest mining disaster” in the Philippines in terms of volume, but the company is seeking a clean-up option instead of paying the hefty fine of P1 billion, officials said.

Some 20 million metric tons of sediments have flowed into water channels from the Philex tailings pond in Itogon since its drainage tunnel was breached last August, according to a report from the Mines and Geosciences Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (MGB-DENR).

This is ten times more than the volume of mine tailings that spilled out of the Marcopper mine in 1996 in Marinduque, which dumped some two million metric tons of waste into the Boac River and is still considered the worst mining disaster in terms of toxicity. Residents along the 27-kilometer Boac River lost their fishing livelihood and diseases have afflicted the community after the incident.

“In terms of volume, ito [Philex mine tailings spill] ngayon ‘yung biggest mining disaster in the Philippines,” MGB chief Leo Jasareno told GMA News Online in an exclusive interview last Friday.

Philex spokesperson Atty. Eduardo Aratas affirmed the statement: “Because of the volume [of the leak], it is really the biggest. But on the toxicity, it is not.”

Mining officials are still studying the toxicity levels of the wastes from the gold and copper mine that were deposited in nearby waterways after heavy monsoon rains led to a major breach in its drainage tunnel last August 1. About five "minor" recurrences have been reported since then, Jasareno said.

This week, the bureau is set to conduct a socio-environmental impact assessment of the tailings pond leak to determine the extent of the damage.

The DENR has slapped a hefty P1-billion fine, almost as much as the mining firm's taxes last year, on one of the country’s largest producers of gold and copper.

But Philex is reluctant to pay up, arguing that, “forces of nature cannot be prevented 100 percent.”

Aratas asserted, “Ang sinasabi ng management, sige if you fine us tapos na dapat [‘yung responsibility]. Or, if you order us to clean up, then gagawin namin ‘yun.”

The MGB chief is standing pat on the penalty. “Ang contention kasi ng Philex pagka-force majeure hindi sila dapat magbayad ng P1 billion. [Pero] dun sa provision ng Mining Act na kung saan namin hinugot yung parusa… wala namang nakalagay na hindi ka magbabayad kung force majeure,” Jasareno explained.

Balog Creek ‘biologically dead’

The penalty for violating other environmental laws – such as the Clean Water Act – will be imposed separately on Philex, Jasareno said. This will cost about P50,000 per day, in addition to a clean-up plan for the rehabilitation of damaged waterways.

The company has said that torrential monsoon rains caused a breach in its Tailings Pond 3 -- the largest in the country at 80 hectares -- which can hold up to 160 million metric tons of wastewater and sediments from the mining operations.

The leakage in what is currently the only operating tailings pond of Philex spilled waste into nearby water channels, particularly Balog Creek, which flows into the Agno River.

Last October, an environmental investigative mission declared Balog Creek "biologically dead" after it suffered the worst of the discharge, which was deposited along the 2.5-kilometer water channel.

The creek had turned gray, with the riverbed full of mud and the water brownish in color. There were no signs of frogs, dragonflies, aquatic plants or moss. The water was too murky to spot any fish.

According to the Philex spokesperson, the company is aware that the mining leak weighs heavily on the public’s perception of mining operations in the country.

“Ang face ng mining will be at stake [dito]. Ayaw din namin na i-fail,” said Aratas. “Hindi lang Philex kasi ito. We are carrying the burden of proving that mining is really responsible.”

Trust fund for communities

Jasareno said the fines would be placed in a trust fund that will be used to pay for the claims of affected residents or communities.

The MGB director added that the 57-year-old company would not be allowed to continue its operations “unless they are able to undertake the necessary remediation measures provided by law.”

“Dapat i-remedy nila, otherwise di [sila] bibigyan ng permit,” he pointed out.

According to Aratas, the company managed to plug the leak last September, but its operations remain suspended pending the clean-up of the mining spill.

In early October, President Aquino referred to the mining disaster, without naming Philex directly, when he told the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines that reforms were needed in the mining law:
"In terms of revenues, our position is government gets something like less than 10 percent of what they (mining companies) make. But we have a hundred percent if there is a problem that crops up, meaning, for instance, one of the oldest firms – of mining firms – in the country suffered multiple failures of their tailings pond, and that redounds to quite a significant impact on the environment.

"We still stick with our position that there has to be a reformulation of the governing law with regards to the mining industry. And we would rather not continue the situation or also the risks until the remedies or the corrections in the mining laws will be corrected." – YA/HS, GMA News
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story...per-ndash-denr

Yykes! Asan na yung tailings fee na binabayaran bawat taon? Hindi po ba doon papunta yung fees sa fund to pay for damages should their be environmental accidents from tailings dams?

Kung ako si Philiex, gagamitin ko yung fine money to cleanup the creek, not to DENR! Kung gusto ng gobiyerno na sa kanila yung pera, sila ang gagasta dun sa cleanup. Pwede?

[Monchhichi]

5 mine firms bond for spill cleanup

BAGUIO CITY—An official of the Philippine Mine Safety and Environment Association (PMSEA) said engineers and geologists from at least five mining companies in the country will help in the rehabilitation of the waterways contaminated by wastes that leaked from the tailings pond of Philex Mining Corp. in Benguet in August.
Louie Sarmiento, PMSEA president, said the mining industry was sad about the situation of Philex, a major gold and copper producer, because the company is considered a model for responsible mining in the Philippines.
In September, Department of Environment and Natural Resources officials said Philex could face about P1 billion in fines for the spills in its Padcal facility in Itogon town. Philex disputed the figure.
Sarmiento said no one wanted the accident to happen.
“As an organization, we are saddened because Philex is one of the most responsible mining companies in the country, and we never wanted that kind of accident to happen. It’s a good thing that we have a committee now that will help address this problem and which offered the technical assistance to them,” Sarmiento said in a press forum on Tuesday to announce the holding of the annual mine safety conference here this week.
Sarmiento said officials of some mining companies were bothered by the Philex incident and suggested that the conference not be held in Baguio.
“A month before the conference, many were asking why we had to hold the conference in Baguio, and we said we do not want to run away from the problem. We are here to reaffirm our commitment,” Sarmiento said.
He said experts from several mining companies have volunteered their services to help in the cleanup of Balog Creek in Itogon, where the wastes were discharged, and in the design and other technical aspects of the waste disposal system of Philex.
Balog Creek is a tributary of Agno River, which is the source of water of San Roque Dam in San Manuel, Pangasinan.
Sarmiento commended Philex for admitting responsibility for the leak and for exerting efforts to plug the leak in its Tailings Pond No. 3. The firm had also committed to clean up and rehabilitate the waterways where the tailings were discharged.
But on Wednesday, members of militant groups staged a protest rally to condemn Philex and other mining companies for their allegedly unsafe practices that put the environment and communities in danger.
The protesters went to the Mines and Geosciences Bureau office here to submit the initial results of their fact-finding investigation on the impact of the Philex tailings pond leak on the outlying communities and waterways in Itogon.
“As the government and mining companies brag about mine safety during their mining conference this week, we reiterate our position against destructive mining and its accompanying militarization and human rights violations,” said Santos Mero, deputy secretary general of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/307328/...-spill-cleanup

[Monchhichi]

PH to bat for cleaner air quicker at climate talks
MANILA, Philippines—The Philippines will push for a five-year extension of the Kyoto Protocol—the international treaty that binds developed nations to cut their greenhouse gas emissions—during the next round of climate change talks in Doha, Qatar, which begins Monday.
Climate Change Commission Executive Director Mary Ann Lucille Sering, who is also CCC vice chair, said the Philippines will seek a shorter second commitment period than the European Union, which has proposed an eight-year extension of the pact.
http://globalnation.inquirer.net/578...-climate-talks

[Monchhichi]

PH gains support for bid to extend Kyoto Protocol—DFA

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine call for a five-year extension of the international treaty that binds countries to cut greenhouse gas emissions gained support from representatives of over 20 countries as the next round of global climate treaty talks opened in Doha, Qatar on Thursday, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said.
In a statement, the DFA said Friday that the call to preserve the Kyoto Protocol, mainly directed at developing countries long criticized for slow action on climate change issues, was delivered to the plenary by Philippine Climate Change Commissioner Naderev Saño.
“We are 35 days away from the end of the first commitment period. A meaningful and effective second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol beginning January 1, 2013, this should be the minimum outcome in Doha,” Saño was quoted as saying in the statement.
Signatories to the treaty are obligated to reduce emissions by an average of 5.2 percent below 1990 levels in a period from January 1, 2008 to December 31, 2012.
In its statement, the DFA noted that the Philippine position was supported by countries representing Africa, Asia and Latin America, including Algeria, Argentina, Malaysia, India and China.
The 18th round of talks in Qatar, which will conclude on December 6, was attended by over 17,000 delegates representing 192 countries, the DFA said.
Saño emphasized that more needs to be done, saying that since the treaty was first agreed in 1992, greenhouse gas emissions have increased by 50 percent.
He argued that developed countries must have new emission targets within the range of 40 to 50 percent below 1990 levels by 2020, while ensuring emissions reduction of at least 25 to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2017.
“Without ambitious action, the great majority of the world’s population is doomed. Inaction is simply unacceptable,” he said.
http://globalnation.inquirer.net/583...o-protocol-dfa

[tita01]

Phl stands to lose up to 140,000 hectares of land due to global warming

LOS BAÑOS, Philippines – The country’s topography stands to be altered considerably in the face of rising sea levels triggered by warming global temperatures.

Manifestations of climate change observed and gathered over the years point to “increasing air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising global average sea level,” it was pointed out at the international conference on climate change held from Nov. 21-23 here.

The Philippines stands to lose 90,000 to 140,000 hectares of land if sea levels rise by one meter, as projected by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), said Chancellor Rex Victor Cruz of the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB).

The IPCC was established in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization and United Nations Environment Program to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about climate change and to lay the foundations for measures needed to counteract such change.

Cruz was one of the main speakers at the forum organized by the Philippine government-hosted, Los Baños-based Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) and UPLB.

The international conference, attended by 110 scientists, government policymakers and planners, academicians, and experts from the private sector from across the world, was supported by the Asia-Pacific Adaptation Network, German Academic Exchange Service, University of Mohenheim-Food Security Center in Germany, German Agency for International Cooperation-Philippines through the Climate Change Commission under the Office of the President, Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research, and Economy and Environmental Program for Southeast Asia.

Continue......http://www.philstar.com/headlines/20...global-warming

[achernar]

Illegal logging, mining worsened impact of Philippines' killer typhoon

Jeremy Hance
mongabay.com
December 06, 2012

http://news.mongabay.com/2012/1206-h...JOMayhi6HZx.99


According to Filipino officials, rampant illegal logging and mining were likely a part of the cause for the high casualty count from Category 5 Typhoon Bopha (Pablo), especially in the Compostela Valley where government officials had warned people to stop the illegal activities. So far, 370 people have been found dead on the island of Mindanao with another 400 missing. Waters rose so high even emergency shelters were inundated.

"If you abuse nature, nature will get back at us," Benito Ramos, executive director of National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), said. "This is due to decades of mining and logging. Our forests are already deluded and there are tunnels left by small-time miners."

Illegal logging and mining has stripped many hillsides bare in Mindanao, which has forest cover of only 10 percent. Deforestation means flash floods flow unimpeded, leading to cataclysmic land and mud slides that can bury whole towns.

"The water was as high as a coconut tree," a local farmer, Joseph Requinto, told the Associated Press. "All the bamboo trees, even the big ones, were all mowed down."

Unfortunately these tragic environmental disasters are becoming a recurring theme in the Philippines, less than a year Typhoon Sendong killed over 1,200 people on the same island. The extensive destruction wrought by this storm—which impacted over 300,000 people—was also blamed at least partly on illegal logging.

Logging has banned throughout the Philippines since February of 2011 in order to avert disasters such as this, but illegal logging remains a rampant problem. Yet, while illegal logging and mining certainly worsened the death toll of Typhoon Bopha, there may another component to the storm's wrath: climate change.

Warmer world may equal worse typhoons, hurricanes

"Climate change is now a clear and present danger and a national security concern for our country," Filipino Senator, Loren Legarda, said last year after the devastating Typhoon Sendong.

Scientists continue to debate the connection between climate change and hurricanes and typhoons (both names for tropical cyclones). However a general consensus is emerging that while climate change may not increase the total number of hurricanes, it is likely increasing the extremely intense ones, much like Hurricane Sandy that struck the U.S. East Coast a little over a month ago.

Climate change is intensifying tropical cyclones in a number of ways: rising sea levels create worsening storm surges, while a warmer atmosphere draws in more water from the oceans leading to increased precipitation, worsening the chance for flash floods such as those spawned by Bopha. In addition, unseasonably warms seas may be extending both the tropical cyclone season and its geographical reach: Typhoon Bopha hit a region of Mindano that has never been hit by such extreme cyclones. It also hit late in the season.

"We have never had a typhoon like Bopha, which has wreaked havoc in a part of the country that has never seen a storm like this in half a century. And heartbreaking tragedies like this is not unique to the Philippines, because the whole world, especially developing countries struggling to address poverty and achieve social and human development, confront these same realities," Naderev Sano, climate negotiator for the Philippines, said today in an impassioned speech at the 18th UN Climate Summit in Doha, Qatar, which has been crawling along the last two week. Sano pointed to the disaster as more evidence to move aggressively on climate change at a conference where observers say little progress is being made.

"I appeal to the whole world," Sano continued. "I appeal to leaders from all over the world, to open our eyes to the stark reality that we face. I appeal to ministers. The outcome of our work is not about what our political masters want. It is about what is demanded of us by 7 billion people. I appeal to all, please, no more delays, no more excuses. Please, let Doha be remembered as the place where we found the political will to turn things around."

Anti-poverty and environmental NGOs are largely pointing the finger at wealthy countries—especially the U.S., Canada, and New Zealand—for failing to raise their pledges on emissions cuts and providing little information on where climate financing will come from. The host nation, Qatar, has also come under heavy criticism for bringing little to the table, even though it is the world's largest greenhouse gas emitter per capita.

[achernar]

DENR: 'Pablo' experience justified total log ban

Friday, December 7, 2012
http://www.sunstar.com.ph/breaking-n...log-ban-257150


MANILA -- Environment Secretary Ramon Paje said the government will continue the imposition of the total log ban in light of the devastation caused by Typhoon "Pablo" (international name: Bopha) in Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental, where cutting of trees remain unabated.

Illegal logging operations in the said provinces might be partly to blame for Pablo's trail of destruction, Paje said, even as other groups also saw mining as potential culprit.

"This is now proving that total log ban is right. Several quarters are criticizing the declaration of a total log ban but look at what happened? It is now proving that we really must stop timber harvesting especially in our natural forests," Paje said.

In February 2011, President Benigno Aquino III issued Executive Order (EO) 23 that halted all authorized logging operations in natural forests nationwide, virtually stopping timber extraction of about 300 million board feet a year.

Paje said the implementation by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) of EO 23 has drastically reduced the illegal logging hotspots to 31 from a high of 197.

Incidentally, records show 80 percent of the remaining hotspots are concentrated in Caraga and Davao region, which includes Compostela Valley, where the highest number of casualties and missing victims was recorded.

To add more teeth to the government's fight against illegal logging, the DENR and other agencies recently signed Resolution no. 2012-005 giving the military the power to nab armed groups employed by illegal loggers starting this month.

Paje chairs the Anti-Illegal Logging Task Force, whose members include Local Government Secretary Manuel Roxas II, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, Philippine National Police chief Director General Nicanor Bartolome and Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff General Jessie Dellosa.

"We have requested the military to take the lead because the groups in these areas are armed and we have lost so many employees already in these areas," he said.

Environmental group Panalipdan said Mindanao has been vulnerable to natural disasters due to the proliferation of large-scale extractive industries being promoted by the Aquino administration through policies such as Executive Order 79 and the Mining Act of 1995.

"Do we need typhoon Pablo to get the attention of the central government and concerned people about our issues like political killings and environmental destructions caused by big extractive industries and other agribusiness ventures?" asked Sr. Stella Matutina, Panalipdan secretary general.

The group said mining explorations and operations in New Bataan will affect the integrity of various ecosystems in the area such as Mt. Kampalili-Tagub Range Complex and Andap and Caragan watershed that supply ample amount of the water for residential and agricultural uses in the province.

Compostela Valley, which used to boast of being typhoon-free, hosts a 2,139.44-hectare gold and copper mining project of the Canadian-owned Philco Mining which operates in Camanlangan village in New Bataan.



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then again, nasa huli talaga ang pagsisisi.

[Parchie]

Ask ko lang: Wala bang editors dya-an sa pahayagang iyan? Andaming mali: "deluded" versus "denuded", "logging has banned throughout the Philippines", "becoming a recurring theme", etc. Kakainis basahin, IMHO.

[achernar]

translated to filipino: ang aming kagubatan ay naging ilusyunado na.

nagmamadali lang siguro ang writer... Yale graduate pa naman

[achernar]

Mining, logging contributed to 'Pablo' disaster in Mindanao: experts

BY MYNARDO MACARAIG, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE December 10, 2012 7:50am

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story...ndanao-experts

Unchecked illegal gold mining and decades of indiscriminate logging contributed to the high death toll in the Philippines' worst natural disaster this year, officials and experts say.

Whole towns were washed away or buried by landslides when Typhoon Pablo (Bopha) smashed into a mountainous region on the southern island of Mindanao last week, leaving 548 people confirmed dead and 827 missing.

Poverty, greed and the lure of the precious metal have long drawn thousands of prospectors to the region.

"Mining and logging may have had an effect," said civil defence chief Benito Ramos.

"The mountains have been denuded for decades, and filled with holes by our countrymen who are small-time miners. It pains me to say this, but these are the facts," he said.

The worst-hit southern town of New Bataan is both a center of the devastated banana industry and host to some of the thousands of illegal gold-mining operations in the Mindanao province of Compostela Valley.

Geologists say the mountainous area is mostly unsafe for habitation. But numerous small, illegal or poorly regulated gold mines dot its slopes and the local government says they provide 40 percent of the province's economic output.

Much of the forest cover was also cut down long ago to make way for row upon row of bananas to supply the major markets of China, Iran, and Japan.

The plantations and hopes of striking it rich have drawn hundreds of thousands of poor migrants in search of work. They settle in mountain hamlets around which poisonous mercury, used to extract gold from rock, is routinely dumped into rivers.

The deluge wrought by the strongest cyclone to hit the country this year came despite days of preparations and advance warnings, including an early evacuation of vulnerable areas.

Governor Arthur Uy said 75,000 people, or one in five in the province, rely on the mines and regulation is a sore point.

The environment ministry insists it is the local officials like Uy who are required by law to issue small-scale mining permits and who must ensure people do not settle in areas considered prone to landslides and flash floods.

But Uy protested that the ministry's "geohazard maps" show that 80 percent of the entire province is a danger zone.

"What shall we do? Should we all move from Compostela Valley?" he said.

Uy also said miners had resisted efforts to relocate them, preferring the danger to poverty.

"It is the risk they are willing to take, just to strike it rich. They don't want to move," he said.

Larry Heradez, a technical officer for the Philippine government's mining regulator, said people in New Bataan and nearby gold-rush areas may have known about the danger but sought refuge in the wrong areas.

"There is a problem of information dissemination. The local officials also thought they are evacuating to an area which was safe," he told AFP.

Rescuers said government shelters were among buildings swept by the floods.

In any case, all the elements of a disaster in the making were already there long before geohazard maps came into fashion, said University of the Philippines geology professor Sandra Catana.

"They (have been) living in these areas before technology came about, including the awareness of geohazards in this country which started only in the 1990s," she told AFP.

With Mindanao usually spared by the 20 or so storms that lash the Philippines every year, people may have become complacent and were caught unprepared by the typhoon which struck further south than usual, officials said.

But the head of a government flood control programme, Mahar Lagmay, warned that weather patterns were changing.

"Previously we have had tracks in the last several decades where (storms) were moving more to the north. Now, they say, it is moving towards the south," he said.

Some 1,200 people were killed when tropical storm Washi struck Mindanao's north coast in December last year, but Uy conceded that residents of his southern region never expected a killer storm like Bopha.

"This was the first time this happened to us, we did prepare... but we never felt anything this strong. We were taken by surprise. That is one of the reasons there were so many casualties," he said. —Agence France-Presse

[amigo32]

Originally Posted by Parchie

Ask ko lang: Wala bang editors dya-an sa pahayagang iyan? Andaming mali: "deluded" versus "denuded", "logging has banned throughout the Philippines", "becoming a recurring theme", etc. Kakainis basahin, IMHO.

taga India ata ang BPO na a-asign pag edit ng yan o baka galing Recto University na Pinoy

[dc88]

increasing population of the corrupt/endulged causes deforestation, especially when these criminals steal lands and feeling millionares buy whole towns.

[Nabartek]

Originally Posted by achernar

Illegal logging, mining worsened impact of Philippines' killer typhoon

Jeremy Hance
mongabay.com
December 06, 2012

http://news.mongabay.com/2012/1206-h...JOMayhi6HZx.99


According to Filipino officials, rampant illegal logging and mining were likely a part of the cause for the high casualty count from Category 5 Typhoon Bopha (Pablo), especially in the Compostela Valley where government officials had warned people to stop the illegal activities. So far, 370 people have been found dead on the island of Mindanao with another 400 missing. Waters rose so high even emergency shelters were inundated.

"If you abuse nature, nature will get back at us," Benito Ramos, executive director of National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), said. "This is due to decades of mining and logging. Our forests are already deluded and there are tunnels left by small-time miners."

Illegal logging and mining has stripped many hillsides bare in Mindanao, which has forest cover of only 10 percent. Deforestation means flash floods flow unimpeded, leading to cataclysmic land and mud slides that can bury whole towns.

"The water was as high as a coconut tree," a local farmer, Joseph Requinto, told the Associated Press. "All the bamboo trees, even the big ones, were all mowed down."

Unfortunately these tragic environmental disasters are becoming a recurring theme in the Philippines, less than a year Typhoon Sendong killed over 1,200 people on the same island. The extensive destruction wrought by this storm—which impacted over 300,000 people—was also blamed at least partly on illegal logging.

Logging has banned throughout the Philippines since February of 2011 in order to avert disasters such as this, but illegal logging remains a rampant problem. Yet, while illegal logging and mining certainly worsened the death toll of Typhoon Bopha, there may another component to the storm's wrath: climate change.

Warmer world may equal worse typhoons, hurricanes

"Climate change is now a clear and present danger and a national security concern for our country," Filipino Senator, Loren Legarda, said last year after the devastating Typhoon Sendong.

Scientists continue to debate the connection between climate change and hurricanes and typhoons (both names for tropical cyclones). However a general consensus is emerging that while climate change may not increase the total number of hurricanes, it is likely increasing the extremely intense ones, much like Hurricane Sandy that struck the U.S. East Coast a little over a month ago.

Climate change is intensifying tropical cyclones in a number of ways: rising sea levels create worsening storm surges, while a warmer atmosphere draws in more water from the oceans leading to increased precipitation, worsening the chance for flash floods such as those spawned by Bopha. In addition, unseasonably warms seas may be extending both the tropical cyclone season and its geographical reach: Typhoon Bopha hit a region of Mindano that has never been hit by such extreme cyclones. It also hit late in the season.

"We have never had a typhoon like Bopha, which has wreaked havoc in a part of the country that has never seen a storm like this in half a century. And heartbreaking tragedies like this is not unique to the Philippines, because the whole world, especially developing countries struggling to address poverty and achieve social and human development, confront these same realities," Naderev Sano, climate negotiator for the Philippines, said today in an impassioned speech at the 18th UN Climate Summit in Doha, Qatar, which has been crawling along the last two week. Sano pointed to the disaster as more evidence to move aggressively on climate change at a conference where observers say little progress is being made.

"I appeal to the whole world," Sano continued. "I appeal to leaders from all over the world, to open our eyes to the stark reality that we face. I appeal to ministers. The outcome of our work is not about what our political masters want. It is about what is demanded of us by 7 billion people. I appeal to all, please, no more delays, no more excuses. Please, let Doha be remembered as the place where we found the political will to turn things around."

Anti-poverty and environmental NGOs are largely pointing the finger at wealthy countries—especially the U.S., Canada, and New Zealand—for failing to raise their pledges on emissions cuts and providing little information on where climate financing will come from. The host nation, Qatar, has also come under heavy criticism for bringing little to the table, even though it is the world's largest greenhouse gas emitter per capita.

"illegal", as in the small scale (well, it would be hard to remain illegal if they are large scale unless they are bribing the government)? Mas may violations pa nga ata yung mga binigyan nila ng permit...Yung mga Chinese at Korean companies na binigyan nila ng permits eh literally na kinukuha ang lupain natin

[Parchie]

Originally Posted by amigo32

taga India ata ang BPO na a-asign pag edit ng yan o baka galing Recto University na Pinoy

Alam na alam mo! Baka po hindi umabot ng Recto, sa may kanto lang ng Paredes?

[pau_p1]

Donald Trump Jr. causes Twitter uproar over Tubbataha

InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/5...over-tubbataha

“This is how stupid we are.”

Donald Trump Jr.—the son and namesake of American businessman and television personality—posted this message on his Twitter account regarding the move to dismantle a US Navy ship that remains stuck on the Philippines’ Tubbataha Reef, which is off-limits to any form of navigation, save for tourism and research.

Trump’s tweets—and succeeding Twitter posts—opposed the plan to dismantle the vessel since it was “more important” than a reef that’s “already been run over.” [See: US Navy dismantling plans, Tubbataha damage]

As a result, he caused an uproar among Filipino Twitter users, prompting hundreds to mention him on their own accounts and call him names.

Street artist and activist Carlos Celdran—who’s currently in the thick of a separate controversy himself—called the younger Trump the A-word. [See: Carlos Celdran]

But not all tweets were about defending Filipino patrimony and love of country.

One Twitter user brought up Trump Sr.’s wig, proving that we Filipinos can still see some humor—however arguably inappropriate—in our country's lower moments.