Loren blames water, power lack on "shortage" of trees

"This is all about trees and watersheds," Sen. Loren Legarda said of the impending water and power shortages in Metro Manila and nearby provinces amid the less-than-normal rainfall since May.

"We've been warning repeatedly about this in the past. The unabated destruction of trees has clearly diminished in a big way our natural ground capacity to hoard enough water," Legarda lamented.

"This is bound to impact not only the water supply flowing out of our faucets, but also the water energizing our hydro-based power plants and the water irrigating our farms," the senator said.

"Trees are absolutely essential. In fact, once the feared rolling brownouts in Metro Manila worsen, and we won't be able to run our air-conditioners and electric fans, the trees around us will be the only ones left to provide us any cooling effect," Legarda stressed.

"Trees are our natural air purifiers and air-conditioners. Trees take in carbon dioxide and give off oxygen. Trees also decrease the drying effects of hot winds," she pointed out.

Legarda chaired the Senate committee on environment and natural resources and authored two major environment-protection laws in the 12th Congress -- the Solid Waste Management Act and the Clean Air Act. She also founded Luntiang Pilipinas, the nationwide tree-growing program that received the United Nations Environment Program Award in 2001.

Two weeks ago, Legarda renewed her bid to totally ban all logging activities in order to safeguard the country's residual forests and allow new trees to grow unmolested in logged over districts nationwide.

Legarda reintroduced a measure -- Senate Bill (SB) 73 -- that seeks to prohibit logging operations of any kind for the next 25 years. The bill proposes to declare it illegal for any person to cut or destroy any tree standing on any forest, timberland, forest reserve or watershed.

There are two sides to the water shortage -- the supply side and the demand side, according to Legarda.

"The only viable strategy to address the supply side is for us to quickly stop the devastation of trees, and to purposely grow new trees not just in logged over forests, but in all open public and private spaces," Legarda said.

Legarda's bill also requires all cities and towns to establish a local forest park. New residential subdivisions must also put up tree parks covering not less than 50 percent of total open spaces set under existing regulations.

"As to the demand side, we definitely have to consciously push water conservation in homes, offices, in factories -- everywhere, to effectively check wasteful consumption. Population growth is clearly working against us, so water-saving measures are imperative," Legarda said.