A MARINDUQUE REHABILITATION QUESTION
From an e-mailer we got the following question:
“Do you think there is a chance that Marinduque will be fully rehabilitated? Why not just convert it into a tourist spot--like Buttchart gardens of Victoria, Canada or Phuket (the former tin mine site that was converted into a man-made lake surrounded by the big hotels--Sheraton, Dusit, etc.)?”
What comes closest to this idea was perhaps the suggestion made by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in 2001 to develop in Marinduque “a center of educational excellence in the southwest Pacific for understanding, assessing, predicting, and cleaning up the environmental impacts of mining in tropical areas… The center could not only provide education and employment opportunities for local residents, but also attract a large number of students, teachers, and others to the island”.
Marinduque Rep. Edmundo Reyes, Jr., in a well-publicized press statement made during a visit to Canada in January 2002 declared, “ It would be a place where governments and researchers can contribute to the rehabilitation of our devastated eco-systems while increasing their knowledge of mining related environmental impacts and remediation.”
This recommendation that came out in the first study, however, was apparently glossed over by the USGS at the conclusion of its second study (that cost the Philippine government P 20-million), in 2004.
The Center for Environmental Concerns (CEC) faulted the USGS final study for not making a conclusive analysis and recommendation as “majority of the study's findings and suggestions are appended with requirements for further analyses, monitoring and studies”. Instead of being a definitive and positive intervention, extended and more comprehensive studies are proposed by the USGS, said the CEC.
But then again, in 2001 the USGS said funding for such a center of excellence as mentioned “could be pursued through the mining industry, world monetary institutions, environmental groups, and a variety of other sources.”
The earlier USGS report said such a center, “if established on the island, could oversee and coordinate assessment and remediation activities (underscoring mine). At the same time, it could provide hands-on learning and training opportunities in both technical and research fields about mining-environmental issues. Expertise learned on Marinduque could then be transferred to other places in southwest Pacific and southeast Asia where similar large-scale mining-environmental problems are occurring.”
CEC said that Marinduquenos are now lead into the “burden of finding solutions over their dreadful circumstances”. Isn’t it time for local environmental groups, in partnership with the mining industry and monetary institutions to now come up with studied proposals based on these new and glossed over recommendations?
“Do you think there is a chance that Marinduque will be fully rehabilitated? Why not just convert it into a tourist spot--like Buttchart gardens of Victoria, Canada or Phuket (the former tin mine site that was converted into a man-made lake surrounded by the big hotels--Sheraton, Dusit, etc.)?”
What comes closest to this idea was perhaps the suggestion made by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in 2001 to develop in Marinduque “a center of educational excellence in the southwest Pacific for understanding, assessing, predicting, and cleaning up the environmental impacts of mining in tropical areas… The center could not only provide education and employment opportunities for local residents, but also attract a large number of students, teachers, and others to the island”.
Marinduque Rep. Edmundo Reyes, Jr., in a well-publicized press statement made during a visit to Canada in January 2002 declared, “ It would be a place where governments and researchers can contribute to the rehabilitation of our devastated eco-systems while increasing their knowledge of mining related environmental impacts and remediation.”
This recommendation that came out in the first study, however, was apparently glossed over by the USGS at the conclusion of its second study (that cost the Philippine government P 20-million), in 2004.
The Center for Environmental Concerns (CEC) faulted the USGS final study for not making a conclusive analysis and recommendation as “majority of the study's findings and suggestions are appended with requirements for further analyses, monitoring and studies”. Instead of being a definitive and positive intervention, extended and more comprehensive studies are proposed by the USGS, said the CEC.
But then again, in 2001 the USGS said funding for such a center of excellence as mentioned “could be pursued through the mining industry, world monetary institutions, environmental groups, and a variety of other sources.”
The earlier USGS report said such a center, “if established on the island, could oversee and coordinate assessment and remediation activities (underscoring mine). At the same time, it could provide hands-on learning and training opportunities in both technical and research fields about mining-environmental issues. Expertise learned on Marinduque could then be transferred to other places in southwest Pacific and southeast Asia where similar large-scale mining-environmental problems are occurring.”
CEC said that Marinduquenos are now lead into the “burden of finding solutions over their dreadful circumstances”. Isn’t it time for local environmental groups, in partnership with the mining industry and monetary institutions to now come up with studied proposals based on these new and glossed over recommendations?
posted by balangaw @ 5:51 PM
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