PH risks new diseases without forests
THE World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Philippines is warning that loss of forest cover could increase the risk of Filipinos getting infected with new diseases.
Joel Palma, WWF Philippines president and chief executive officer, said that records from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources show about 47,000 hectares of forest cover are lost every year from rampant illegal logging and lack of security in areas declared as protected wildlife sanctuaries.
“Should the Philippines continue to lose its forest cover at the pace that forests are being denuded now, the country will lose one of its main protective agents against emerging infectious diseases which are the forests,” he added.
Palma said studies from nongovernment organizations and the United Nations (UN) have stated that emerging infectious diseases in tropical countries like the Philippines are aggravated, if not caused, by changes in land and forest cover, particularly deforestation and forest fragmentation. There are also findings that the coronavirus disease 2019 that has spread worldwide originated from bats.
He explained that without forests, more and more diseases that could be harmful or fatal to humans could emerge from the wild.
“The Philippines has one of the fastest deforestation rates in the world, and yet our forests house two thirds of the planet’s biodiversity, which supports a wide spectrum of flora and fauna. If we continue to allow our forests to be denuded, we will lose our forests in the next two decades and we open ourselves up to risks of emerging diseases,” Palma added.
He said the Philippines could have prevented this from happening if it had been more stringent in the implementation of laws that protect forests.
“The time to act now has already passed. We should have acted yesterday to prevent further damage in the future.
But this reality is a reminder for us that the severity of this situation calls for collaborative action — everyone must participate to win this war against deforestation,” Palma said.
This is why WWF recently joined a coalition of like-minded organizations in promoting a greener Philippines through the rehabilitation of forests.
Under the program called GCash Forest, which recently won a Silver Anvil for its groundbreaking use of technology for environmental protection and rehabilitation, GCash users are encouraged to plant and nourish virtual “digital trees.”
Palma said the digital trees, when fully grown, will then be planted at the Ipo Watershed.
“The program calls for the participation of individuals to join hands with us as we rehabilitate the watersheds. We have seen an encouraging number of people willingly volunteering with us as we move on with this project,” he added.