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7/25/2019 Yes o Corner

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Environment of the PhilippinesThe Philippinesis prone to natural disasters, particularly typhoons, floods, landslides, volcanic

eruptions, earthquakes, and tsunamis, lying as it does astride the typhoon belt, in the active

volcanic region known as the Pacific Ring of Fire, and in the geologically unstable region

between the Pacific and urasian tectonic plates!

The Philippines also suffers ma"or human#caused environmental degradationaggravated by ahigh annual population growth rate, including loss of agricultural lands, deforestation, soil, air

and water pollution, improper disposal of solid and to$ic wastes, loss of coral reefs,

mismanagement and abuse of coastal resources, and overfishing!

Environmental issues

ater pollution

%lthough water resources become scarce in some regions and seasons, the Philippines as a

whole has more than enough surface and groundwater! &owever, the neglect of a coherent

environmental policy led to the actual situation, in which '() of the groundwater is

contaminated! The main source of pollution is untreated domestic and industrial

wastewater! *nly one third of Philippine river systems are considered suitable for public water

supply!

+t is estimated that in -', water availability will be marginal in most ma"or cities and in ( of

the ./ ma"or river basins! 0esides severe health concerns, water pollution also leads to

problems in the fishingand tourismindustries! The national government recogni1ed the

problem and since --2 has sought to introduce sustainable water resources development

management!

*nly ') of the total population is connected to a sewer network! The vast ma"ority uses flush

toilets connected to septic tanks! 3ince sludge treatment and disposal facilities are rare, most
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippineshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoonshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Ring_of_Firehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_degradationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coral_reefhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fishinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoonshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Ring_of_Firehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_degradationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coral_reefhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fishinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippines


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effluents are discharged without treatment! %ccording to the %sian 4evelopment 0ank,

the Pasig Riveris one of the world5s most polluted rivers! +n 6arch --(, 6anila

7aterannounced that a wastewater treatment plant will be constructed in Taguig! The first

Philippine constructed wetlandserving about 8-- households was completed in --9 in a peri#

urban area of 0ayawan :itywhich has been used to resettle families that lived along the coast

in informal settlements and had no access to safe water supply and sanitation facilities!

Deforestation

*ver the course of the -th century the forest cover of the Philippines dropped from 8- percent

down to - percent!

+n total, 29 species are endangered, and 2 were already eradicated completely! ;! percent of

total rainforest has been left!

0ased on an analysis of land use pattern maps and a road map an estimated /!( million ha of

forests were lost in the Philippines from ./;2 to ./((!

%ccording to scholar

;' years for a second#growth forest to mature, loggers had no incentive to replant!

:ompounding the error, flat royalties encouraged the loggers to remove only the most valuable

species! % horrendous 2- percent of the harvestable lumber never left the forests but, having

been damaged in the logging, rotted or was burned in place! The unsurprising result of these and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasig_Riverhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manila_Waterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manila_Waterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taguighttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructed_wetlandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayawan_Cityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessica_Mathewshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasig_Riverhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manila_Waterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manila_Waterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taguighttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructed_wetlandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayawan_Cityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessica_Mathews


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related policies is that out of .8 million hectares of closed forests that flourished early in the

century only .! million remain today!?..@

+llegal loggingoccurs in the Philippines and intensifies flood damage in some areas!

Governmentpolicy

Sustainable Development

Recogni1ing the need to tackle the environment issues as

well as the need to sustain development and growth, the Philippines

came up with

the

3ustainable 4evelopment 3trategy! The nation for the 3ustainable 4evelopment 3trategy

includes assimilating environmental considerations in administration, apposite pricing of natural

resources, conservation of biodiversity, rehabilitation of ecosystems, control of population

growth and human resources development, inducing growth in rural areas, promotion of

environmental education, strengthening citi1ensA participation, and promoting small to medium

si1ed enterprises and sustainable agricultural and forestry practices! *ne of the initiatives signed

in part of the strategy was the .// arth 3ummit!

Bpon signing the .// arth 3ummit, the government of Philippines has been constantlylooking into many different initiatives to improve the environmental aspects of the country!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environment_of_the_Philippines#cite_note-11http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_logginghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environment_of_the_Philippines#cite_note-11http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_logging


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Environmental protection

:urrently, the

Philippines5 4epartment of nvironment and Catural Resourceshas been busy tracking down

illegal loggers and been spearheading pro"ects to preserve the quality of many remaining rivers

that are not yet polluted!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Department_of_Environment_and_Natural_Resourceshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Department_of_Environment_and_Natural_Resources


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