Category: Updates

When the state and business sector fail to secure the needs of the people, it is civil society that plays the lead role in protecting and empowering its own people. In recent years, more and more groups have come together to advocate, not just for the people’s welfare, but also for the environment.

Faith-based organizations gathered to tackle the role of spirituality in caring for the environment in the 370^th Kamayan Para sa Kalikasan online forum held by Green Convergence Philippines last April 16, 2021.

“For Buddhists, all things are interconnected,” shared Venerable Zhi Yi, superintendent of the Fo Guang Shan Mabuhay Temple.

“Consciously, Buddhism emphasizes the practice of mindful awareness and a lifestyle of simplicity,” she added.

“As a Buddhist organization, we encourage people to have a vegetarian diet, living with contentment, being kind to oneself and to others. We encourage a plant-based diet because it needs less electricity, gas, time, and water” she explained.

“In just one vegetarian day, you can help reduce carbon emissions by 3kg and 45lbs of food waste,” she said.

Jo Guela of the National Secretariat for Social Action (NASSA/Caritas PH) noted a similarity in the Catholic and Buddhist perspective of interconnectedness. “As [Venerable Zhi Yi] also shared, we as Catholics and Christians define ecology as ‘living in harmony with mother earth’.”

“To secure a sustainable future, we must change how we live. This entails major transformations in the ways our global society functions and interacts with natural ecosystems” she said.

“We need a paradigm shift in order to re-establish our sacred relationship with nature,” said Guela as she cited Pope Francis’ encyclical, Laudato Si.

“Napakahalaga yung how we respect nature and how we connect with nature” she affirmed.

The Vice President of Peacemakers Circle Dr. Shakuntala Vaswani, on the other hand, shared the Hindu perspective on caring for the environment.

“We have a rich heritage of scripture text that has shaped our view of the world and its environment. It has given us awareness of the great forces of nature as well as that all living things are an extension of the divine,” she said.

“Religious ethics have acted as sanctions against environmental destruction for hundreds of years in India,” she added.

“Unfortunately, our stewardship of mother earth has diminished in the last century or so, either due to the loss of understanding, or sheer negligence in the course of population growth, development, and industrialization” said Dr. Vaswani.

“We need to return to the teachings and practices of our religions that infuse sacredness and reverence in our relationship with nature,” she concluded.

On the role of churches, Mervin Toquero of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines, a network of mainline Protestant, Christian, and non-Catholic churches, said “the NCCP sees the role of churches in environmental protection as providing support and encouragement for the whole ecological movement. It does not see itself as separate.”

“Churches are responsive to climate change and disasters which have gotten worse especially in the last few years because of our vulnerability to climate change,” he added.

Citing the NCCP’s policy paper on ecology, Toquero emphasized interconnectedness of life and creation with the Indigenous People’s concept of ‘Land is Life’.

“They do not have the concept of owning the land. They believe that land is here to nurture the present generation and to nurture future generations” he said.

“Caring for the earth has a spiritual basis,” said Leonor Berroya, Treasurer of Green Convergence.

“We had speakers from 4 religions, but everybody is saying the same thing. There is interrelatedness and interconnectivity in creation,” she concluded.

Environmental Coalition Green Convergence held the 369th session of the monthly Kamayan Para sa Kalikasan Forum entitled “Entrepreneurs for the Environment” last March 19, 2021 through Zoom.

“We have entrepreneurs who are either into business reviving nature, regenerating nature, or curing nature,and those who are into businesses who make sure they are sustainable- meaning they are taking care of the environment, otherwise their business will be affected” shared Dr. Angelina Galang, President of Green Convergence.

Among these eco-conscious entrepreneurs is Erwin Po, President of ReconX- a company that converts plastic waste into fuel and other upcycled products. 

Po shared that the company was born out of the need to address the issue of the overwhelming amount of plastics. “Our goal is to effectively minimize  plastic waste, reprocess plastics, and offer a less environmentally damaging product,” he explained.

The ReconX President listed the products they are able to produce from plastics. “Aside from producing fuel, mostly diesel, kerosene, and low octane gasoline, we also upcycle products and convert them into pellets that can be molded into something else” he said.

“There are many good uses of plastics, it’s simply a matter of disposal and management, and this is where we come in as we constantly work on ways on how to renew them, thus completing the entire circular economy cycle.” he concluded.

Pie Cabigas, Manager of Better Than Ice Cream, shared how her family’s company adapted to using  more natural substitutes for their products.

“When we started in 1990, our products were all sugar-based,” said Cabigas.

“In 1995, we came out with our first no-sugar added product, not knowing there is a big market for this in the Philippines that is clamoring for this type of product” said Cabigas. 

The manager shared the difficulties they faced in switching to natural sweeteners. “In 2010, stevia was introduced to the market, but not in the Philippines.” she said. 

“Since we couldn’t get the imported products here, we just decided to work with a local supplier,” she explained.

“It took a while before we were able to switch from sugar to artificial, then from artificial, to the natural-sweetener, stevia” she added.

When asked regarding further developments on their products, Cabigas replied, “We plan to expand this more, not just with using stevia. People have also told us to explore an alternative plant-based frozen dessert.”

The final speaker, Angelo Tan, Green Building Country Lead of the International Finance Corporation, shared his insights on the importance of including infrastructures and buildings in the climate change narrative.

“In the Philippines, the level of urbanization surpassed the 50% mark in 2015” he said.

“What’s very worrying is that with climate change and this rapid urbanization, there is this phenomenon called double exposure where we become more vulnerable to the effects of climate change” he added. 

“We believe that climate change is also climate business, and we recognize the critical role of the private sector in climate change mitigation and adaptation. Entrepreneurs and businessmen and women have a critical role to play” said Tan.

Tan shared that even in the Philippines, green building can be a viable option for climate change mitigation. “Many Filipinos think green buildings are very expensive, but they are not especially when green measures are incorporated in the design of the house”, he explained.

“The first EDGE or Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies certified Zero Carbon building in the world is actually in the Philippines, which is the Arthaland Century pacific tower in BGC”, he proudly shared.

“It just shows that developments in the Philippines can be a pioneer in the world in terms of Zero Carbon developments”, he concluded.

The 369th session also marked the 31st Anniversary of Kamayan Para sa Kalikasan. A commemoration was held for its founders- journalists Vic Milan and Ed Aurelio “Ding” Reyes, and restaurateur Vic Vic Villavicencio.

Longtime participant of the Kamayan forum Roy Cabonegro shared about the impact of the forum and its founders. “We started to form a political green party (MAKAKALIKASAN) from the Kamayan Forum. In my experience, [the forum] is really a story of the three founders,” he shared.

“I thank the three of them and the forum. To me, I see no difference between the 3 founders and this forum” he said after lauding the founders.  

Esther Pacheco, President of Concerned Citizens Against Pollution also gave testimony of the influence of the Kamayan forum. “[It] is a landmark in Philippine communication to last so many decades and pioneering ahead of its time an advocacy for nature.”

Poet, publicist, and activist Greg Bituin Jr. also paid homage to the longevity of the forum in his poem as he read, “dahil sa nangasiwa’t bagong pamunuan, tatlong dekada’y nagdaan, forum pa ri’y nariyan”.

Since March 1990, Kamayan Para Sa Kalikasan Forum has become an institutionalized platform that enables NGO and government representatives, the media, students, teachers, church groups, and concerned citizens to discuss pressing environmental issues in the country. This month’s forum is organized by Green Convergence and is supported by Kamayan Restaurant EDSA.

Nature has been the inspiration behind many brilliant works of art. Whether it is through paintings, songs, films, stories, or poems, Mother Nature has been the muse behind these works of creativity.

In this month’s Kamayan Para sa Kalikasan Forum, we take a look at how some artists are giving back to the environment. What role do artists have in the care and protection of the environment? How does their work contribute to the spread of the environmental paradigm?

According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, 59 million Filipinos were reported to suffer from a moderate to severe lack of consistent access to food in 2019. Lack of income, unemployment, and natural disasters are just some of the many causes that lead to the growing number of food-insecure people in the country.

This was all before the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

What is the state of the agricultural sector amidst the ongoing pandemic? How has public access to food been affected by the months-long lockdown and quarantine protocols? What can the public and private sectors do to improve people’s access to food?