Iiillegal Logging
Illegal logging, mining worsened impact of Philippines' killer typhoon
According to Filipino officials, rampant illegal logging and mining were likely a part of the cause for the high casualty count from Category 5 Typhoon Bopha (Pablo), especially in the Compostela Valley where government officials had warned people to stop the illegal activities. So far, 370 people have been found dead on the island of Mindanao with another 400 missing. Waters rose so high even emergency shelters were inundated.
"If you abuse nature, nature will get back at us," Benito Ramos, executive director of National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), said. "This is due to decades of mining and logging. Our forests are already deluded and there are tunnels left by small-time miners."
Illegal logging and mining has stripped many hillsides bare in Mindanao, which has forest cover of only 10 percent. Deforestation means flash floods flow unimpeded, leading to cataclysmic land and mud slides that can bury whole towns.
"The water was as high as a coconut tree," a local farmer, Joseph Requinto, told the Associated Press. "All the bamboo trees, even the big ones, were all mowed down."
Unfortunately these tragic environmental disasters are becoming a recurring theme in the Philippines, less than a year Typhoon Sendong killed over 1,200 people on the same island. The extensive destruction wrought by this storm—which impacted over 300,000 people—was also blamed at least partly on illegal logging.
Logging has banned throughout the Philippines since February of 2011 in order to avert disasters such as this, but illegal logging remains a rampant problem. Yet, while illegal logging and mining certainly worsened the death toll of Typhoon Bopha, there may another component to the storm's wrath: climate change.
Warmer world may equal worse typhoons, hurricanes
"Climate change is now a clear and present danger and a national security concern for our country,"
According to Filipino officials, rampant illegal logging and mining were likely a part of the cause for the high casualty count from Category 5 Typhoon Bopha (Pablo), especially in the Compostela Valley where government officials had warned people to stop the illegal activities. So far, 370 people have been found dead on the island of Mindanao with another 400 missing. Waters rose so high even emergency shelters were inundated.
"If you abuse nature, nature will get back at us," Benito Ramos, executive director of National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), said. "This is due to decades of mining and logging. Our forests are already deluded and there are tunnels left by small-time miners."
Illegal logging and mining has stripped many hillsides bare in Mindanao, which has forest cover of only 10 percent. Deforestation means flash floods flow unimpeded, leading to cataclysmic land and mud slides that can bury whole towns.
"The water was as high as a coconut tree," a local farmer, Joseph Requinto, told the Associated Press. "All the bamboo trees, even the big ones, were all mowed down."
Unfortunately these tragic environmental disasters are becoming a recurring theme in the Philippines, less than a year Typhoon Sendong killed over 1,200 people on the same island. The extensive destruction wrought by this storm—which impacted over 300,000 people—was also blamed at least partly on illegal logging.
Logging has banned throughout the Philippines since February of 2011 in order to avert disasters such as this, but illegal logging remains a rampant problem. Yet, while illegal logging and mining certainly worsened the death toll of Typhoon Bopha, there may another component to the storm's wrath: climate change.
Warmer world may equal worse typhoons, hurricanes
"Climate change is now a clear and present danger and a national security concern for our country,"