Bills against pollution doesn't go far enough

Philippine Daily Inquirer

A national law to regulate noise pollution is long overdue. House Bill 7072 authored by Reps. Dato Arroyo, Ferdinand Martin Romualdez et al. could be a step in the right direction, but by limiting its scope to cover only noisy car engines and the blowing of horns in “non-commercial districts,” its authors stopped short of crafting an encompassing and effective law.

Haven’t these lawmakers noticed that, more than automobiles, most of which are equipped with regulation exhaust/muffler systems, the noisier vehicles that pass through non-commercial or residential areas are tricycles, motorcycles and jeepneys with straight exhaust pipes? And if the real intent of the law is to safeguard the general health and well-being of residents in non-commercial districts, then why have its authors left out other sources of noise pollution? Some of these are:

1. Backyard/home businesses producing more than normal noise like metal fabrication shops, etc.;

2. Fighting cocks and other noisy animals (including dogs);

3. Street parties and wakes where people create noise;

4. Karaoke singing and other forms of amplified sound (whether outside or within the bounds of one’s property) above the ambient noise level or that “disturbs” or causes discomfort or annoyance to others beyond one’s property line;

5. Playing of loud music inside restaurants, stores and malls which make normal conversation impossible.
Finally, why limit the prohibition to the period from 8 p.m. till 8 a.m.? Noise pollution is still noise pollution between 8:01 a.m. and 7:59 p.m.

Noise pollution, like air pollution, causes slow death. It is like assault with a deadly weapon. It is a crime against life. Our lawmakers should get real.

—JOEY K. MONTALVO,
Nordson Green Earth Foundation,
115 Paseo de Roxas,
Bel Air IV, Makati City
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In connection with the above news, many residents of Baranggay Central I, Palompon, Leyte were so happy to learn that finally the BLITZ GRILL Beer and Grill located at Evangelista Street have been closed since Saturday, September 10, 2010.

Said establishment was a constant irritation to neighbors who has to endure the suffering every time they extend their operation to the wee hours of the morning causing most of them to suffer sleepless nights and tired bodies.

It was reported also that there are some customers who were able to bring inside the establishment their personal guns, when this is supposed to be taken by security personnel of establishments for safekeeping.

It was also claimed that some gun owners under the influence of liquor were able to illegally discharged their guns to the detriment of other law abiding customers who are just there to enjoy the night with friends, but instead were abused by these mindless critters.

Who knows, maybe other customers are also into drugs, provided that they are paying customers, the owners don't just give a damn even if what they're doing are illegal or not. "It is their concern, not ours"

In the last petition by residents of the said Baranggay, Mr. Charles Chiong, whose hotel establishment, is directly beside the protested Karaoke and Grill bar, complained that hotel guest cannot sleep due to the noise emanating from the said bar. Residents are just hoping that this is not temporary, especially if politics would enter the picture, then goodbye again to the community's wish for an undisturb and unpolluted environment

In a related action, the local LGU approved an ordinance last November 2009, "Prohibiting Nuisance in the Municipality of Palompon, Providing Penalties For Violators Thereof, and for Other Purposes" - authored by Mun. Councilor GILBERT MANONGSONG. A similar decision of the Supreme Court en banc was noted by the undersigned which I quote:

"EN BANC
G.R. No. L-17760 October 31, 1962
RAMCAR, INC., Petitioner, vs. EUSEBIO S. MILLAR, ET AL., Respondents.

REYES, J.B.L., J.: chanrobles virtual law library
Petitioner Ramcar Inc., operates and maintains an auto repair and body building shop at No. 1241 (formerly No. 1377) General Luna Street, Ermita, Manila, while the seven private respondents reside near or around the shop. Respondents brought an action before the Court of First Instance of Manila to abate the said establishment as a nuisance. That Court, after trial, dismissed the complaint, and not satisfied with the decision, the plaintiffs (respondents now) appealed the case to the Court of Appeals. The appellate court reversed the trial court's decision and entered judgment against Ramcar, Inc. as follows:

WHEREFORE, the decision of the lower court is hereby reversed and another one rendered declaring that the operation and maintenance of the establishment of the defendant corporation at No. 1241 (formerly No. 1377) General Luna St., Ermita, Manila, is a public nuisance and violates the provisions of Zonification Ordinance No. 2830, as amended by Ordinance No. 2906, of the City of Manila; ordering the defendants-appellees to remove the said establishment and all buildings and structures built therein within 30 days from the finality of this judgment; and, condemning defendant-appellee Ramcar, Inc., to pay plaintiffs-appellants the sum of P10,000.00 as special damages and P2,000.00 as attorney's fees, without costs in this instance".

I hope that our local business establishment will try to follow the law to the fullest or else the full force of the law will follow them whatever they do and wherever they go.

It can be gleaned from the above, that though the law is late in coming, it will surely catch up with them, whether they like it or not. Surely "karma" is the fruit of whatever you planted. The concerns of the many should always prevail against the concern of the few.

When in Cebu City, please visit also gregmelep.com for your retirement and real estate needs.

Big cities toxic to raising kids

By DJ Yap
Philippine Daily Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines—About 70 percent of the world’s population is expected to be living in cities by 2050. Some experts are concerned that as cities continue to grow and prosper, they become less and less habitable for families.

For some reason, people stop marrying and having children in places that are too urban, too congested or too expensive.

“There’s something really strange that’s going on right now,” said Joel Atkin, an internationally recognized expert on global economic, political and social trends.

“What’s happening to many cities is that they are no longer attractive to families,” he said at the closing plenary of the World Cities Summit held in Singapore last month. The summit was a meeting place for leaders to discuss the best ways and practices to make cities more livable.

Rich big cities like New York are witness to this phenomenon, and so have rich mid-sized cities like Singapore, Atkin said.

Metro Manila

Even Metro Manila, which has 11 million residents, does not seem to be an ideal place anymore for growing a family as it grapples with the same issues that beset many big, densely populated cities of the world: congestion, pollution, crime and poverty.

“Something in the way we’re building our cities and our society, but cities in particular, is making it toxic for the formation of families and raising children,” Atkin said.

“That’s why we have things called suburbs. That’s why people start off in Manhattan, get married and they move up to the Hudson Valley or they go to New Jersey, and they raise a family,” he said.

High cost, little space

Which is not to say most New Yorkers don’t want to stay in the city. “(But) they can’t afford to stay. They can’t have enough space to stay. And this seems to be the same thing that we’re hearing from people in Singapore—that they may stay but they never have children,” Atkin said.

The same could be said for Metro Manila. As people start to raise a family, they move to a neighboring province, like Rizal, Cavite, Laguna or Batangas where land is cheaper and the cost of living is much lower.

The question, then, is how do governments create dense urban spaces that can accommodate families? “(We have to know) how we can do that because what we’re building now is certainly not encouraging,” Atkin said.
This is probably the single biggest issue that cities must face down the road, in 10, 20 or 30 years “when our cities are overwhelmingly made up of people who are in their 60s, 70s and 80s,” he added.

Liu Thai Ker, chair of the Center for Liveable Cities Advisory Board and the master planner of Singapore, admitted that density was a big problem, especially for a city-state like Singapore, which has one of the thickest populations crammed into a tiny space.

Singapore has 5 million people and a land area of 702 square kilometers. (Metro Manila is about 636 sq m.)
But it is a problem that is not without a solution, he said.

Sociologists

Liu cited the experience of Singapore’s public housing sector, which had been planned with input from sociologists to determine what was best for the welfare of the families that would live there.
“When we started public housing, we had to plan ahead of people’s aspirations. Because in those days, all people wanted was a roof over their heads, nothing more. But we felt that that would be setting too low a standard, and it’s not good for the long term development of Singapore,” he said.

“We decided that we would not be building houses, we’re building communities. So that means we had to study what makes a community. What kind of territorial size should we devote for people to have a sense of belonging to this piece of land,” Liu said.

Singapore precinct

After a lot of surveys, it was determined that the smallest community unit was to be the precinct, which should be somewhere between three and five hectares, and the population should be around 700 to 1,000 families, he said.

The rationale was to make sure “you have enough variety of people there,” he said. In fact, Singapore’s public housing estate has a population that roughly approximates the national proportions of ethnicity, that is, the number of Chinese, Indians, Malays and other races in each building must correspond to the national average.
On top of that, each estate must only have one entry point. “Because these are urban people, they don’t really go out of their way to make friends with the neighbors, so what we tried to do was, in each precinct, we have only one entry point,” he said.

“So at least you can recognize their faces even if you don’t talk to them,” he added.
Liu said the sociologists also told him that people stop talking to each other with more than eight families in a block. So what they did was to put partitions in the corridor for every eight families.

“Six months later, I went to visit the families (in one block). I went to the first family, Chinese, all the other kids, Malay, Indian, followed into the living room. I went to another one. I went in—all other kids followed me. In fact, some of the neighbors followed me,” he said.

“My point is, even in sociology, there’s a possibility to look at a problem, analyze the problem, and find solutions, not just through design, (but) through a variety of means,” Liu said.
Intergenerational mixing

Atkin said another important feature that must not be absent in cities was intergenerational mixing.
“We must bring back multigenerational families, which have been the backbone of urban life from the very beginning. How can we get the older people and younger people together and have multigenerational neighbors?” he said.

Most cities want to build neighborhoods where everybody is 30 years old and stays out at 3 in the morning. “Then they’re gonna build senior housing so that all the old people are together,” he said.

“That, I think, is very socially destructive both for the old people and the young people,” Atkin said.
One good example of an intergenerational neighborhood is the community where his mother lives, he said.

“In this (New York) neighborhood, they did a very good job. They have the inner core, which is quite a few single people and elderly, and a lot of houses surrounded with families. You have, during the daytime, a lot of the elderly around, then at night, the kids are out. Then on weekends and Sundays, the families are out. So the same spaces are being used over and over again,” he said.

He recalled asking his mother, who was 87 years old, if she wanted to move to Florida with her sister and other people her age. His mother replied: “Oh, that’s for old people.”

Preschool, senior center

Citing another example, in Los Angeles, he said a preschool sits right next to a senior center. “That breaks down the sense of isolation (among the elderly). I think it’s unnatural for young people not to be with older people, and for older people to be deprived of young people,” he said.

But in the future, there may just be fewer and fewer young people in the most successful cities.

Stress, low fertility

Singapore has one of the lowest fertility rates in the world, something Atkin finds ironic, considering government efforts to make sure it can provide for families.

Housing in the city-state is heavily subsidized. Education is practically free and health services are universally accessible.

“So I asked myself, why aren’t the citizens making children? Were people so stressed, so busy and so competitive? (These are) all the things that made Singapore a great city, and many other cities like New York or San Francisco, a great city. But now it is producing a very strange effect—people are not having children,” he said.

“At this agency I was at, they couldn’t even get Singaporeans to date,” he said, eliciting laughter from the audience.

Atkin’s observations did not sit well with his hosts. After all, the summit, in some ways, was intended to celebrate urban lifestyles as much as it was to find solutions to the ailments that cities faced.

Mah Bow Tan, then Singapore’s minister for national development, said Atkin’s points were too simplistic, and that there might well be other sociological explanations for Singapore’s low birthrate.

“In cities like Singapore, and in many cities in Asia, I think high-density living is a necessity. Suburbs are a luxury and we get to make the best of them,” he said.

“If you look at the case of Singapore and visit a public housing estate, each town has about 200,000 people. In the town, there are schools, places of worship, work, transportation, shops and sports. Name it, we have it,” he said.

“Within this community of 200,000, we start to build flats, apartments which are comfortable, which can house a family of four, five people, three bedrooms, dining hall, and so on. And in each block, there are common spaces. The ground floor is open. Children can play. Where you can hold a wedding. If there’s a demise in the family, you can have a funeral. Or you can hold a concert, or put a child care center, you can put an elderly care center as well,” Mah said.

It is quite possible, he insisted, “to have livable, sustainable cities which are high-rise and high-density.”

Melbourne

Melbourne Mayor Robert Doyle pointed out that something was being forgotten in the debate: “We begin with people, but we very quickly move to buildings and densities, and these sorts of things.”

“You know,” he said, “when we think about our cities, the question we have to ask ourselves is why would a family come into the center of our city other than to lose and enjoy themselves?”

He said it was the role of city leaders to “activate” their city and make it attractive for all kinds of people to come visit and, perhaps, even move there to raise a family.

Comedy festival

In Melbourne, he said they are trying to accomplish this through festivals. “Whether it’s a comedy festival, or the arts festival or music festival, we actually pay extra money so that they can put on family-friendly and alcohol-free activities, like in the evening at 10:30, 11, midnight, 12:30, 1 in the morning,” he said.

“We often think about the buildings. To me, the important part is the fine grain. The important part is what happens on our streets, what happens when the buildings kick the footpath or the sidewalk, as somebody would say, and the activity that we generate there. That’s what will bring the people in,” he said.

Century of culture

Doyle said this is the “century of culture.” “It is the century of people, and that’s what we should be serving. So what we try to do is make it very attractive for families to come in. And you can actually plan for this.”
In the mid-1990s, Melbourne had only 400 dwellings in the central business district. “And the city decided, ‘we want people in our city, we want families in our city.’”

But the property developers were reluctant. “They said, ‘No, no, you can’t sell apartments to families in the middle of the city,’” Doyle said.

Residential flats

So, he said, the city took a commercial building, converted it into residential flats, and sold them to show the developers that they could have a commercial residential proposition in the middle of the city.
“And I believe Melbourne today, from that 400 dwellings in the middle 1990s, we now have 17,000, and that’s in the CBD, right in the center of the city,” Doyle said.

“So my answer just keeps coming back to people,” he concluded. “Why would people want to come to the center of your city? It will be different for all of us. But if you get them in there, I’ll tell you what, ‘you get a more vibrant city.’”

WORLD'S MEGACITIES

MEGACITY POPULATION(in millions)

1 Tokyo 35.68
2 New York-Newark 19.04
3 Mexico City 19.02
4 Mumbai 18.98
5 São Paulo 18.84
6 Delhi 15.92
7 Shanghai 14.99
8 Kolkata 14.79
9 Dhaka 13.48
10 Buenos Aires 12.80
11 LA-Long Beach-Santa Ana 12.50
12 Karachi 12.13
13 Cairo 11.89
14 Rio de Janeiro 11.74
15 Osaka-Kobe 11.29
16 Beijing 11.11
17 Manila 11.10
18 Moscow 10.45
19 Istanbul 10.06

When in Cebu City, please visit also gregmelep.com for your retirement and real estate needs.

Source: UN-HABITAT 2008; Data from UN Population Division, World Urbanization Prospects 2007; LAWRENCE DE GUZMAN, INQUIRER RESEARCH

Guimaras tourist arrivals up 34%

By Nestor P. Burgos Jr.
Philippine Daily Inquirer

ILOILO CITY, Philippines - Guimaras Island ravage by a massive oil spill four years ago, has bounced back.

Tourist arrivals in Guimaras in 2009 was up by 34 percent or by more than 50,000 compared to 2008, according to data from the provincial tourism office.

Tourist arrivals last year leaped to 212,938 compared to 158,441 in 2008. This included 7,370 foreign tourists and 205,568 local guests.

The island's tourist arrivals reached only 156,423 in 2007 and 156,423 in 2006 after the oil spill struck. The number of tourists in 2009 was also higher than the pre-oil spill data of 204,312,500 arrivals recorded in 2005.
"We have mostly recovered and the big leap in tourist arrivals is very encouraging and welcome," Guimaras Gov. Felipe Nava told the Inquirer in a telephone interview on Tuesday.

The oil spill on August 11, 2006 was considered the country's worst marine disaster and was triggered after the MT Solar 1, chartered by Petron Corp., sank in stormy seas southeast of Guimaras and spilled more than 2.1 million liters of bunker fuel oil, which it was transporting from Bataan to Zamboanga.

Nava said the island's economy has returned almost to normal with affected fishermen going back to fishing.
The oil spill had contaminated at least 27 villages in the towns of Nueva Valencia, Sibunag, San Lorenzo, Jordan and Buenavista in Guimaras and in the towns of Sara, Concepcion and Oton in Iloilo. It also reached the coastal villages of Iloilo City.

At least 6,156 families or 30,531 persons, mostly fishermen, lost their livelihood.
The oil spill also devastated the island's rich marine resources affecting 239 kilometers of coastline, 15.8 square kilometers of coral reefs, 105 hectares of mangroves and 42 hectares of seaweeds damaged or destroyed.

Scientists have earlier warned that the environmental impact of the oil spill would linger longer than the economic impact.

Various results of scientific studies and researches released last year showed that the island's coastal environment has not completely recovered with marine plants and animals showing abnormalities that are mainly attributed to the contamination of the oil spill.

Nava said continued researches and studies were necessary to determine the extent and duration of the environmental impacts of the oil spill.

But a militant nationwide federation of fisherfolk organizations on Tuesday called on the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to compel oil firm Petron Corp. to pay P20 billion for victims of the oil spill.

The Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) urged Environment Secretary Ramon Paje to ensure that the oil firm would compensate the 133,000 victims for the damage caused by the environmental disaster.

Aside from the P 20-billion economic compensation package, the group is also urging the DENR to compel Petron to set aside another P 20-billion for the rehabilitation of Guimaras for ten years spread or P2 billion per year.
Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap claimed that owners of the giant oil company have yet to fulfill their promise to fund the rehabilitation of the marine environment and the livelihood of over 100,000 people in Guimaras, Iloilo and neighboring areas.

"Until now, there is no justice to the victims of the Guimaras oil spill tragedy. The DENR has adopted a forgive and forget attitude with Petron at the expense of the environment and the coastal people of Guimaras and Panay islands. This is horrible," Hicap said in a statement.

The London-based International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund (IOPCF), an intergovernmental agency that indemnifies losses resulting from oil spills, had paid a total of P908,120,203 to 22,437 claimants as compensation for economic losses and refund for expenses in the clean-up and preventive measures in relation to the oil spill. But the IOPCF had rejected around 133,000 other claims after it questioned the validity of the claims.

Philippine coastal marine habitats at risk: A case study of Guimaras Island

A Slow Day in Turtle Island

By Leti Boniol
Philippine Daily Inquirer

TURTLE ISLANDS – In July when the sky turns gray and the rain pours on Manila and its environs, it’s time to head for the Turtle Islands south of the Philippines, where the clouds are light and fluffy, and the skies show off various shades of blue.

The white sand beaches of Baguan, Taganak, Lihiman, Langaan, Boan and Great Bakkungan, the six islands that comprise the Turtle Islands in Tawi-tawi province, are home to nesting turtles that are 20 to 50 years old. From April to August, and even beyond, up to 80 of them come here to lay eggs.

I flew to the islands in mid-July via Sabah upon the invitation of Conservation International, a non-profit organization that is helping the environment department take care of the turtles’ sanctuary – a 138,357-hectare protected area in the Sulu Sea. The group believes that “the earth’s natural heritage must be maintained if future generations are to thrive.”

From a pier in Sandakan, we took a 45-minute speedboat ride to Taganak, where we registered our visit with the Coast Guard and headed for Baguan, a strict protection zone where the most number of turtles nest. Here, no resident is allowed to reside or take anything at all – shell, sand or coral. The environment department’s headquarters is based here, where the staff, including the wardens, stay to conduct studies and guard the island.

The turtles won’t let you sleep much on Baguan.
They start crawling up the beach at about 7 in the evening when darkness covers the nesting sites. Like other animals, turtles are so sensitive that they turn back to the sea the moment they sense any movement. People are thus discouraged from walking on the beach starting at this time.

On our first night, a warden spotted a shadow moving up from the water. We had to freeze, waiting for the turtle to move past us and crawl slowly under the trees. Only then could we move away from the nest.

Jama Mapun: A Changing Samal Society in the Southern Philippines.

We learned that it would take the turtle two hours to dig a pit wide enough for its body, and a meter-deep chamber to lay its eggs. While laying eggs, the turtle would be in such a trance that nothing could bother it. A turtle lays 50 to a hundred eggs in one night and would go back to the nesting site three more times to lay more eggs.

At 5 the next morning, I head for the beach again and find one turtle that had just, well, turned turtle. The more than one-meter long creature with a 50-kilogram carapace on its back, had tumbled down on its way back to the sea from its nesting site a meter above. Three wardens had to help flip it back to its normal position, but only after clipping a tag on its front flippers and recording its size.

Nearby we find another turtle slowly covering its tracks and beginning to inch its way back to the sea before the sun rises. It would slap you with sand using its flippers if you so much as try to get near it. It would take about an hour for the turtle to reach the water after laying eggs.

In another area, a newly hatched baby turtle is trying to crawl up from its nest. We wait for a long time before it finally appears from the hole and rushes to the water. We find another hatchling clambering up from a crab hole and moving quickly into its home, the water.

After breakfast, we take a boat ride to Taganak. We find fishermen on the beach, fixing their nets and preparing for the next fishing expedition. The bigger boys help their father fix the nets, usually with long line and hooks. The women, cradling their babies, try to keep up with the conversation. By noontime, school children and the fishers are going home, some carrying a fresh fish or two, to be cooked for lunch.

Walking around the village, with most of the houses open and on stilts, you suddenly feel your stomach grumble as the aroma of fresh fish frying hits you.

Most of the 6,000 residents of the islands are Tausug and Jama Mapun, with fishing as their main source of livelihood. Coconuts are dried and sold in the market. Most of the products come from Sandakan, as Zamboanga is a good 36 hours away by boat that comes only once a week when the water is calm.

That evening of our second day on Baguan, a warden tells us that a turtle is looking for a place to lay its eggs, but when we run and look for it, we find it heading back to sea. It really doesn’t welcome visitors. But we want to witness an actual scene of egg-laying and so we wait patiently for another turtle in another location. It takes 30 minutes, but we finally get to behold the great moment when the turtle releases eggs the size of chicken eggs into the chamber.

It will take several more years before tourists are allowed to see such scenes on Turtle Islands. The Protected Area Management Board of the town approved on July 23 the guidelines for an ecotourism plan that will open the islands to a few well-meaning tourists several months during the year. Such guidelines ensure the protection of the sanctuary.

Supported by tourism, the islands will remain a conservation, research and educational area. Visitors will have to pitch in to help the community become self-sustaining so that the influx of visitors does not destroy the marine sanctuary.

Turtles, according to Conservation International, are mirrors of how the environment will sustain the creatures that inhabit it. The group is teaching children in the islands to value the turtles, a unique gift that should be conserved for the generations to come. Caring for them is like caring for ourselves and our future, the CI tells them. •

When in Cebu City please visit gregmelep.com for your real estate and retirement needs.

Using plants to clean up contaminated water, soil

By Augustine Ignatius Doronila

IT IS not unusual to see, read or hear about environmental problems these days. Pollution has become so common that we appear resigned to the fact that this is part of modernization.

At times, it may seem that the cleanup would require a very expensive and highly sophisticated process. Have you ever thought that we could use plants to clean up contaminated soil and water?

Increased interest

Over the past 20 years there has been interest in using a series of technologies called phytoremediation (phyto = plant and remediation = providing a remedy) to provide a solution to many polluted areas.

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has encouraged research on using plants to remediate manmade contaminants through several mechanisms.

Some plants destroy organic pollutants by degrading them directly through the production of acids and enzymes which attack these compounds. Other plants aid in degradation indirectly by supporting microbial communities in the soil which will decompose the pollutants. There are other plants that take up inorganic contaminants such as heavy metals from soil or water and concentrate them in the plant tissue or root.

Extraction technique

Using different plants, phytoremediation can be applied as a containment measure for decomposition of the pollutant or as a removal or extraction technique.

Through the development and evaluation of new, soft, appropriate and efficient biological processes, it is possible to remove, contain or render harmless environmental contaminants (toxic metals and difficult-to-destroy organic pollutants) in waste waters and sites heavily affected by industrial, mining or urban activities.

Attractive technology

The technology is attractive because the cost of phytoremediation techniques is estimated to be from 20 to 50 percent less than the highly engineered physical, chemical or thermal techniques.

Moreover, there are limited funds available for environmental cleanup. This alone is relevant to less economically developed countries which have suffered a legacy of chemical pollution and are unable to provide substantial funding to immediately remove the pollutant source.

Phytoremediation is still a young technology that seeks to harness the metabolic capabilities and growth habits of higher plants. Delivering a cheap, soft and safe biological treatment applicable to specific contaminated sites and wastewaters is a relatively recent development.

Low cost, low impact

The European Union through its COST Action 837 program, which presented its major findings in October 2009 in Ascona, Switzerland, showed that there was still a significant need to pursue both fundamental and applied research to provide low-cost, low-impact, visually benign and environmentally sound remediation strategies.

It is well-suited for use at very large sites where other methods of remediation are not cost-effective or practicable; at sites with low concentrations of contaminants where only “polishing treatment” is required over long periods of time; and in conjunction with other technologies where vegetation is used as a final cap and closure of the site.

The concept of using plants to clean up contaminated environments is not new. Approximately 300 years ago, plants were proposed for use in the treatment of wastewater in Berlin, Germany. Plant species have been discovered to accumulate metals to such high concentrations, usually 1,000 times, considered toxic to a typical plant.

European plant species

They have been called metal hyperaccumulating plants. At the end of the 19th century, two European plant species, the penny cress (Thlaspi caerulescens) and a small violet (Viola calaminaria), were the first plant species documented to accumulate high levels of metals in leaves.

In 1948, Tuscan scientists Minguzzi and Vergnano identified plants able to accumulate up to 1 percent Ni (nickel) in shoots which is 10,000 times more than what a typical plant would have in leaf tissues.

Bronze Age

Some unusual plants have been discovered to grow in soils which are naturally rich in metals as well as in ancient and abandoned mining sites from the time of the Bronze Age circa 3000 BC.

Toxic

Important metals for our modern lifestyles such as nickel, copper, zinc and lead are also invariably toxic if they become dissolved in water.

The idea of using plants to extract metals from contaminated soil was subsequently revived about 30 years ago and developed by Utsunamyia (Japan) and Chaney (US). The first field trial on zinc and cadmium phytoextraction was conducted in 1991 by Baker and his colleagues.

There has been extensive research in the past two decades with major developments occurring in the technologically advanced nations. Despite significant success, the understanding of how a plant does metal extraction is still emerging. The agronomic practices to improve the extraction are still being optimized.

Growing market

According to the EPA, the US phytoremediation market has grown significantly. It expanded from $30 million in 1995 to $49 million in 1999. This may also become a technology of choice for remediation projects in developing countries because it is cost-efficient and easy to implement.

It has only been in the past 10 years that phytoremediation studies have been undertaken in tropical regions. These are invariably emerging markets which are experiencing major pollution problems due to rapid industrialization. The countries which have taken the lead in harnessing this green technology are China, Thailand, Brazil, Chile and India.

Spectacular discovery

One of the most spectacular discoveries of a hyperaccumulating plant occurred in China in 1999. Prof. Tongbin Chen and his team from the Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Science discovered a species of Chinese brake fern (Pteris vitatta) [a species of pacô] which can grow healthily in arsenic-rich soils.

Before this discovery no plant in the world had been found able to hyperaccumulate arsenic to a concentration of more than 1,000 milligrams per kilogram. So far, Chen’s team has identified a total of 16 native Chinese plants able to absorb arsenic, lead, copper and other heavy metals from soil.

By 2005, Chen’s research program in the southern Chinese province of Chenzhou had achieved success. The team conducted a field trial in Dengjiatang, a township in Hunan’s Chenzhou, where land was polluted by an arsenic smelter.

As a result of heavy arsenic pollution, two people died and most of the grains harvested in the area were contaminated.

Mei Lei, one of the researchers, reported that the arsenic level in the heavily polluted soil had dramatically decreased by half. The cost of using the fern to clean up the contaminated soil was at most one-tenth of the chemical cleaning methods.

Philippine plants

What about the Philippines? Our archipelago also has metal hyperaccumulating plants. In 1986, a British scientific expedition led by Proctor and Baker discovered four nickel hyperaccumulators.

One of these plant species, Phyllanthus balgooyi, accumulated Ni to very extreme concentration of 88,000 milligrams per kg or 8.8 percent. The metal was concentrated in a jade-green sap in a layer of wood just beneath the bark.

It has been recognized that the country may actually harbor many more of these hyperaccumulator species because of the unique geology of the nickel-rich rocks where these species can be found.

Biodiversity

Some world authorities such as Baker and Reeves feel that we are on the cusp of something significant because their intuitions from work in other parts of the world strongly suggest that our country is the habitat of a very large number of these specialized species.

The other biodiverse regions for these plants are in Cuba and New Caledonia.

Zambales

At the end of February 2009, I went on a field trip with Rene Claveria, a geologist and chair of the Department of Environmental Science, Ateneo de Manila University, and two graduate students to a nickel-rich area in Acoje, Zambales.

The mine operator, Rusina Mining, provided us generous logistic support. That initial survey resulted in a discovery of a new Ni hyperaccumulator which has sparked fresh enthusiasm to systematically discover these unique species which belongs to the genus Breynia in the plant family Phyllanthaceae.

It was a thrill to follow on from my mentor, Professor Emeritus Alan Baker, after their pioneering expedition and discovery in Palawan 24 years ago.

The Ateneo environmental scientists have subsequently followed up the initial find with a series of field trips to study the ecology. They also have initiated studies to understand its propagation and the molecules synthesized by the plants to accumulate the metal.

The analytical work has showed that this species will significantly accumulate Ni with concentrations of up to 0.9 percent in the leaf dry matter. The soils from which the plants were collected only had a third of the Ni concentration of the dry leaf matter. Bear in mind that the economic minerals underneath the vegetation contains at least 1.2 percent Ni.

Fast growing

These fast-growing high biomass plants may provide a harvestable valuable “metal crop from spent mineral resources” for post-mining communities. There is an urgent need to discover plants that can be used for the phytoextraction system.

In a recent conversation with journalist Maridel Andanar-Martinez, of the Australian Multicultural Special Broadcasting Service-Filipino program “Radyo SBS,” she aptly described these plants as “[mga] tanim na sumisipsip ng nikel sa ilalim ng lupa (plants that suck nickel from the soil).”

Understanding why and how these plants tolerate toxic conditions is important in providing a better way to restore highly disturbed areas.

Sustainable land use

There are rare examples in the tropical world and the Philippines has had very few of these species discovered in a systematic way. This initial finding and several recent discoveries by other Filipino research teams provide a window of opportunity for research and development of methods which may create novel avenues for long-term and economically sustainable land uses for local communities affected by mining.

(Augustine Doronila Ph.D. is a 2009 balikscientist awardee, research fellow, biogeochemist, restoration ecologist and post-mining reclamation expert. He is connected with the Analytical and Environmental Chemistry Research Group, School of Chemistry, University of Melbourne, Australia.)

Hot coal from coco waste spells cold cash for couple

By Maricar Cinco

SILANG, Cavite – Juan Marquez and wife Celia are not ashamed to call themselves “mag-uuling” (charcoal maker) and “basurero” (garbage collector).

The work they do, they say, brings in the cash.

But being a long-time environmentalist, Marquez believes that recycling agricultural wastes, particularly coconut that is abundant in Cavite, helps “minimize [harmful] impact on the environment.”

In 2006, Marquez was joined by fellow Rotarians in Silang town to put up 1M (culled from his initials – Juan Marquez) Agro-fuel Development Ventures Inc.

Due to his work on charcoal production from coconut wastes, with the assistance of Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau in Los Baños, Laguna, Marquez in 2007 was named one of 10 winners in research and development by the Philippine Business in Development, the local counterpart of The Netherlands-based non-government organization Business in Development.

Charcoal production

Both active in the town’s waste management program, Marquez and his wife were alarmed in 1996 when they learned that coconut wastes made up 60 percent of the biodegradable trash generated in Silang.

“These were disposed in creeks that clogged canals and caused floods,” says Celia.

It also takes years before coconut waste decomposes.

Turning the problem to an advantage, the couple collected the husks and shells of coconut from traders in Silang and later, from nearby towns. They received 10 to 15 tons of coconut wastes at their plant each day.

Marquez describes the procedure to recycle the wastes: The coconut husks must be dry, with only 30 percent of moisture, before they are charred in the kilns for three days. Later, the charcoal is cooled down for two days, ground, and finally molded into briquettes.

Marquez has also devised condensing pipes that trap and condense the smoke emitted from the kilns. The vapor is condensed into another byproduct – “pyroligenous acid” or liquid smoke.

The plant has 10 kilns, each capable of producing 500 kilos of coal and about 500 liters of liquid smoke per production.

Cheaper, safer

Coconut charcoal is found to have higher heating value. It is smokeless and odorless as compared with wood charcoal, Marquez says, adding that it is three times hotter.

“Eight pieces of briquettes could be used for two hours of cooking. A kilo [of charcoal] may be used to grill five kilos of pork meat and two bangus [milkfish]. We’ve tried that,” he says.

1M supplies coconut charcoal to poultry growers in Manila and Cavite. Most poultry raisers use liquefied petroleum gas. But a ton of charcoal can be used in a poultry farm of 30,000 heads of chicken, enabling growers to cut down on fuel expenses.

Liquid smoke, on the other hand, may be used as insect and pest repellent, odor eliminator and disinfectant. 1M supplies liquid smoke to farmers, factories and hospital waste treatment facilities.

Vic Marasigan of KLT Fruits Inc. in Dasmariñas City says he uses liquid smoke to remove odor from the factory’s fruit wastes.

“We [also] tried spraying it [at] a passion fruit plantation, and insect infestation was reduced,” he says.

Also known as “wood vinegar,” the refined liquid smoke has medicinal uses – it may be applied to disinfect open wounds and cure arthritis.

The Department of Agriculture Cavite office has also tested liquid smoke in vegetable plantations.

1M’s pack of 30 briquettes, equivalent to a kilo, costs P19. It is also sold per sack – about five kilos – to poultry growers for P90. The liquid smoke, branded as Norture Liquid Smoke, is sold for P120 per liter.

Replication

With coconut wastes as their primary material, the couple worries about the depleting coconut plantations in the town.

“In 10 years, coconut plantations could be gone and converted into subdivisions. We just have to replant and replace the losses,” says Celia.

But Marquez says they can also use mango wastes, pineapple stalks or skin of durian to produce charcoal, depending on presence of the crops in certain regions.

He says he is willing to transfer the technology and begin the charcoal industry in other communities.

“There is a high demand for coal. We are being required two container vans of coal per month,” he says.

He says that 1M is now considering prospects of exporting its products abroad.

Builders say nature cannot be ignored

By Tessa Salazar

TAKE NATURE INTO CONSIDERATION, and the rewards will be plenty. Ignore nature, and the consequences are certain to be dire. The country’s top builders say they have always built on this principle.

Architect and environmental planner Henry L. Yap, vice president of Robinsons Land Corp.’s design and planning department, says the onslaught of the recent calamities has proven how ruthless the environment can be to the unprepared.

“We shall continue to do our share in responsible citizenship by making sure that we regularly clean our large drainage systems and continue to periodically assess its state/condition. The transfer of best practices that focuses on maintenance, repair and upgrade which greatly come in play with our in-house engineers will be continued and even be enhanced,” says Yap, who is also the general manager of the RLC office buildings division.

Yap adds that the typhoons had shown that RLC’s use of proper site considerations, including the evaluation of the ecological/environmental factors in arriving at its designs and decisions, “actually served us well as seen by the minimal effects on our projects. RLC will continue to ensure that we assess each location that we consider based on exhaustive site selection criteria/factors. Understanding the site profile will greatly influence our decision and will limit the negative impacts on the environment.”

Environmental sustainability

Thomas F. Mirasol, head of marketing and sales of Ayala Land Premier, says: “I can say with confidence that Ayala Land is the leader as far as environmental sustainability is concerned.

“We were the first (and might still be the only one) to set up sewage treatment plants decades ago. Decades ago, too, we emphasized open and green spaces. We respected areas that should never be developed either because of the impact on the land or the flora and fauna that lived there. We harvest rainwater. We reuse treated wastewater for irrigation. We recycle building materials and contain the effects of development. I think Nuvali in Laguna is the leading example of all of these best practices being put to good use today,” Mirasol says.

Benjamarie Therese N. Serrano, director, president and chief operating officer, and Ricardo B. Tan Jr., senior vice president-finance and chief information officer, of Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc., says their team believes it has a “very good record” in terms of giving something back to the environment.

Vista Land, which counts among its projects Brittany, Crown Asia, Camella and a host of various condominium developments in the country, says it maintains a major tree nursery and had planted over one million trees since the establishment of its “pioneering” company three decades ago.

“Where possible, we refrain from cutting down trees in our developments, for example, in our Georgia Club subdivision in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, we designed the layout taking into account the existence of many hardwood trees, and we declared the area a bird sanctuary,” Serrano says.

Close ties

Vista Land claims it has maintained close ties with the Villar Foundation which was established by its principals. Serrano says the Foundation has made significant progress in cleaning up the river in Las Piñas, while at the same time creating livelihood and employment for the community. She cites another project to convert kitchen waste to organic fertilizer, which promotes garbage segregation and will hopefully lessen the use of landfills.

Both Vista Land executives say that in general, developers in 2010 will be more conscious of how their actions affect the environment.

“Mitigating adverse impact to the environment,” Serrano continues, “is one way the company is taking a hard look at its carbon footprint. We should never look at it as a choice between preserving nature and giving people their dwelling spaces. It can be, it should be, a healthy balance.”

Nerissa N. Josef, vice president for project development of Alveo Land, says the company has been conscientious in taking a long-term view on property, adding, “We know that when we build, we build not only for the present but also for the future. Thus, concern for the environment and economic and social sustainability has always been considered from the time we plan up to execution and operation of facilities. Even before ‘green’ had become a trend, Alveo had been ‘greening’ its developments.”

She cites Verdana Homes Bacoor, which segregates its garbage, and maintains a tree nursery; TCAA which has natural ventilation; Two Serendra which maintains a 65-percent “green space” with the largest “green roof” in the area, adding that the gardens on the ground floor of the low-rise sections is the “green roof” for the basement, covering about 2.5 hectares of open space for Two Serendra, and its breezeways.

Josef also cites Celadon Park and Senta, which also have green roofs; Treveia, as part of Nuvali, has sustainable features further enhanced. She cites bioswales, a retention pond which serves both as a feature and sustainability element, trees, provision for double piping, and “gray” water. It also supports the social sustainability efforts of Nuvali by hiring skilled labor in the area.

Geothermal firm inks agreements to supply power to Leyte co-ops

By Amy R. Remo
Philippine Daily Inquirer

MAJOR geothermal developer Envent Holding Philippines Inc. has signed five power purchase agreements worth roughly P15.2 billion ($338 million) for the supply of electricity to cooperatives in Leyte.

Envent Holding—backed by Iceland-based firms Reykjavik Energy Invest and Geysir Green Energy—said the agreements were signed with Leyte II Electric Cooperative Inc. (Leyeco), Leyeco 4, Leyeco 5, Don Orestes Romualdez Electric Cooperative (Dorelco), and Southern Leyte Electric Cooperative Inc. (Soleco).

Envent said the contracts, which would be valid over a 10-year period, would allow it to supply 35 megawatts (MW) of clean, renewable electricity priced between $100 and $113 per MW-hour (mWh).

“The execution of those PPAs is a major milestone ... as the revenue portion of the plant is now mostly taken care of. The negotiation process with the electricity co-ops was extremely pleasant and we are pleased with the professionalism and business acumen of our local partners,” said Envent CEO Gudmundur F. Sigurjonsson.

“We are now working on the financial structure of the project, which we expect will take between five to ten months to complete,” he added.

The baseload electricity will come from Envent’s 50-MW Biliran Unit 1 geothermal power plant, which is scheduled to begin commercial operations by 2012.

The facility is located on Biliran Island, which has a good connection to the national power grid. The project is being executed in collaboration with Biliran Geothermal Inc. and several other local companies.

The five new PPAs would bring to six the total number of agreements that Envent had forged with electric cooperatives on the island.

According to Envent, the cooperatives that have signed the agreements handle more than 300,000 customer accounts combined, representing a population of about 1.9 million on Biliran and Leyte islands. These off-takers are expected to consume about 40 MW of electricity.

“The remaining 10-MW capacity will be offered to the six off-takers and a portion left for the upcoming Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) in the Visayas region,” Envent added.

Through its various geothermal projects in the country, Envent has committed to add a total of 1,200 MW of renewable energy to the grid by 2013.