State of Nature Assessment 2022: “The Continuing Assault on Nature: What are the Ecological Options?”

State of Nature Assessment 2022: "The Continuing Assault on Nature: What are the Ecological Options?"

The State of Nature Assessment (Green SONA) is a review of the past year’s developments in the Philippine environment scene.  Green SONA has been held in different parts of the country since 2016, organized by Green Convergence for Safe Food, Healthy Environment, and Sustainable Economy. Its objective is to increase awareness of different national and local environmental issues and awareness that solutions are mutually beneficial at both levels.  

Green SONA 2022 is planned to be held in Bacolod City on August 26, 2022, partnering with the University of St. La Salle Bacolod, Philippine Normal University Visayas, the Social Action Center of the Diocese of Bacolod, among others that will be invited into the partnership.     

Amidst the fears spawned by the global threats of Covid-19 and climate change, the Philippines has had its share of worrying environmental developments in the past year.  Since the Malampaya gas fields will be exhausted in a few years’ time, there are business plans to increase port facilities in Batangas which might greatly impact the Verde Island passageway, the center of marine biodiversity in the world. Moreover, President Duterte signed the executive order which includes the nuclear option in the energy mix for our country. Genetically Modified Yellow Rice was approved for commercial farming. The latter two technologies are precisely rejected by Green Convergence’s Unity Principles. 

Bacolod is a fortuitous choice for Green SONA 2022 because Negros Island is a showcase of alternatives to the above technologies.  Negros is the center of renewable energy and is a leader in organic agriculture in the Philippines. The experience of Negros can greatly influence national policies. 

The Western Visayas Region has its own share of environmental issues, among which are infrastructures that threaten important ecosystems: the Patag-Calatrava Road that runs through the protected forest in Northern Negros, and the proposed Panay-Guimaras-Negros bridge which threatens the critically endangered dolphins in the Iloilo-Guimaras Strait.  Since the biodiversity in other parts of the country is similarly imperiled, a discussion on this will likewise be nationally relevant.   

Further, through Green SONA 2022, we hope to instill commitment at the individual level through the movement Ako ang Bukas which aims for the Philippines to join the global effort to arrive at climate neutrality by 2050.

You may watch the full coverage on our Official Green Convergence FB Page:

https://fb.watch/ge3oCUABt-/

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