All of us are hearing about--and many are feeling--the effects of climate change. Unfortunately, the poor and destitute around the globe feel the effects that much more. In the Philippines, over one quarter of the population lives at or below the poverty level, and in 2015 an estimated 12% were in extreme poverty. (This is defined as the threshold of subsistence.) The people are not the only ones struggling to survive. Much of the land in this beautiful nation has been ravaged and degraded through (often illegal) logging practices, mining, urban development, and destructive farming practices. In the last few decades, these problems have become overwhelming and cannot be ignored.
The Marikina Watershed is a particular example of this degradation. The Marikina Watershed protects and sustains Metro Manila with water, ecological diversity, and a "carbon sink" for the air pollution of the city. Since the early 1900s, this protected area of more than 26,000 hectares in Rizal has also provided for thousands of families who live directly within the watershed, such as the indigenous Dumagat people. Sadly, the mountains have been stripped over recent decades; up to 80% of the watershed has been denuded, according to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. The watershed is in dire need of restoration. The deforestation of the Marikina river basin has caused hosts of problems, including increased soil erosion, flooding, landslides, reduced carrying capacity in the water channels (which has increased flooding even more), and disruption and loss of biodiversity. There are other effects such as reduced absorption of air pollution from nearby Metro Manila, and heightened vulnerability to typhoons such as the mega-storm Ondoy, in 2009. These storms rip through the Marikina Watershed with devastating effects--much more than would be the case with natural areas of forest that protect and buffer the entire river basin.
Yet there is good news among all this. Children of Mother Earth is working to change all of this--and there is plenty you can do to help! Known as Mga Anak ni Inang Daigdig in Tagalog (or MAID for short), Children of Mother Earth is a professional team of dancers and artists, who formerly made their living as garbage pickers from Smokey Mountain in Tondo, in Manila. This used to be the poorest slum and one of the largest garbage sites in the Philippines. Many of these dancers grew up breathing in smoke from the perpetually burning fires that raged on the garbage site, and knew nothing but the worst poverty. They now dedicate themselves to raising awareness of environmental issues such as the degradation of the Marikina Watershed--and combating the ill effects.
This campaign is focused on helping MAID raise money for the reforestation of Marikina with bamboo. Our goal is to plant 10,000 bamboo seedlings over 600 hectares, with a proposed target of 100 hectares a year over 6 years. This will create a viable forest within the first five years, as bamboo is mature within as few as three. Your donation of $5 will buy one seedling that will be maintained, nourished and then harvested by those living in communities in the Marikina Watershed. This donation goes entirely towards supporting the bamboo, the nurseries, and the livelihood projects and training of people who will harvest the bamboo.
Why bamboo, you ask? Bamboo is one of the strongest forces against climate change, much more so than many other trees or plants. It has a capacity to absorb more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than most other trees--up to 35% more. Bamboo grows much more quickly than slow-growing "traditional" or commercial forests, and bamboo also has the ecological prize of providing humans for almost any need. Bamboo can be harvested for clothing, shelter, biofuel, furniture, transportation, and even medicine and food. In fact, "the potentials of bamboo for poverty alleviation, sustainable environmental protection and disaster risk reduction have been recognized by international and national experts alike" (Fr. Ben Beltran, SVD).
Indigenous peoples of the Philippines have known this all along; they have been harvesting bamboo for centuries. It is a sad effect of the deforestation that they have begun losing their abilities to propagate, harvest, treat, and manage the bamboo, as commercial practices have overtaken their ways. This is another major reason for our project. Returning bamboo to the Marikina Watershed will help return the indigenous people to their ways. The shoots will provide livelihood for thousands, who will once more be able to harvest and maintain the forest as they have done for hundreds of years.
With your contributions, the Marikina Watershed will restore environmental stability, and social and economical stability as well.
Repeatedly throughout his pontificate, Pope Francis has pointed out that social and economical cohesion hinge on our care for the environment. If we neglect any of these matters, the others will suffer--and so will we. In fact, the state of our environment is because of our lack of concern and care for each other. In turning this around by reforesting the Marikina Watershed, we are caring not just for our beautiful Mother Earth--we are caring for each other, for the poorest of the poor, those who most desperately need it.
Your contribution is greatly appreciated -- not just by the Children of Mother Earth and the garbage pickers of Smokey Mountain, but by all those living in poverty in Manila, in the Philippines, and indeed all those who will benefit from a cleaner and healthier Marikina Watershed. Remember, we are all connected. The air of the poor, the air of the Dumagats, the air of the hungry--it is your air, it is my air as well. It is their planet, as much as it is our planet, as much as it is the bamboo's planet. We all belong, and we all deserve a healthy, clean tomorrow.
.
