First of two parts
LONG before the Philippines became a colony of Spain, indigenous peoples (IPs) have been defending their ancestral lands—against local and foreign invaders.
They knew the forest like the palm of their hands. They can trek the mountain with ease. They can swim across rivers like fishes do.
Called by different names, IPs consider these vast tracts of lands—their ancestral domain—“home.” The environmental degradation in Sierra Madre Mountain Range (SMMR) made people living within and around the region, particularly IP communities, highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Today, at the forefront of environmental protection and biodiversity conservation, IP communities in Luzon are coming together to protect Sierra Madre, one of the most important biodiversity conservation areas in the world, for their survival.
IP summit
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), through its Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB), Save Sierra Madre Network Alliance Inc. (SSMNA) and civil-society organizations (CSOs) are holding the Indigenous People’s Summit from September 23 to 26 at the BMB Training Center in Quezon City.
The summit, with the theme “Buhay ng Katutubo at Buhay na Sierra Madre, Buhay Nating Lahat,” has around 100 participants of IPs from Sierra Madre, CSOs, academe and officials from concerned national government agencies are taking part in the summit. The holding of the event underscores the importance of the Sierra Madre to the survival of the country’s unique species of flora and fauna, and millions of people who depend on the bounty of the mountain range. The summit aims to address the various threats faced by Sierra Madre as a source of food, water and source of income and livelihood, and defence against natural calamities.
Intimate connection
SSMNA’s Pete Montallana said that IPs have lived for centuries on Sierra Madre. “They have a different consciousness with lowlanders like us. IPs consider Sierra Madre sacred. To them, the trees and the rivers are their mothers, their siblings. To us, Sierra Madre is a source of income,” Montallana said.
Speaking mostly in Filipino, Montallana said the summit aims to strengthen the role of IPs in environmental protection and biodiversity conservation, noting that Sierra Madre remains in constant threat.
Threatened ecosystem
Destructive human activities continue to threaten Sierra Madre. Logging, both legal and illegal, slash-and-burn farming, or kaingin, charcoal-making, mining and quarrying continue to threaten the ecosystem, increasing the risk of biodiversity loss. Illegal wildlife trade and hunting aggravate the situation.
According to the SSMNA, destructive human activities are happening within the vast forest of Sierra Madre remain unchecked by authorities.
“What we see are problems brought about by logging, legal and illegal, mining—the lare-scale extraction of nickel in the guise of small-scale mining. These are destroying our biodivesity,” Montallana said.
He said IPs in Quezon province are strongly opposed to the planned construction of a dam in the province.
“Outright, biodiversity will be lost with the construction of this dam,” Montallana said.
The dam, he said, is being proposed at a site on top of an earthquake fault, making the project very dangerous.
According to Montallana, some IPs consider Sierra Madre sacred. “There are IPs who pray before cutting down a tree, asking them permission because they need wood.”
However, he said because of poverty, IPs are forced to forgo these intimate connection with the forest’s bounty, making them allow loggers to cut trees or hunt animals.
“These are just some of the problems the summit hopes to address. At the end of the summit, the participants will come up with a resolution and recommendation to the government on how to protect Sierra Madre and sustainably manage their shared resources,” he said.
Biodiversity-rich area
Citing various studies, SSMNA said the SMMR has 1.4 million hectares of forest, representing 40 percent of the country’s remaining forest cover. It hosts a number of key biodiversity areas (KBAs), two of which are the Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park (NSMNP), North Central Sierra Madre Mountains and various candidate KBAs.
The DENR-BMB defines KBAs as “sites of global significance for the conservation of biodiversity.
To be concluded