The Biological Meltdown of Biodiversity in the Cordillera Region ……michael a. bengwayan, ph.d. ; environmental resource management, university college dublin, ireland It is a commonly accepted maxim that we are living in the “information age” and that we are generators of vast knowledge. After all, corporations and governments (especially from the West) are mapping the genomes of pigs, bacteria and human beings. Scientists are tinkering with genes that control everything from human obesity to the color and taste of rice and corn. Biologists are cloning sheep, engineering bananas to contain human vaccines and expressing human proteins in cow’s milk. Given these spectacular achievements, it is startling and disconcerting, however, that we are losing more knowledge than we are acquiring. The events in the Cordillera region shows just that—a Cordillera environment facing possible biological meltdown.are pressured by population activities. The mountain ranges of mount Polis and Mount Amuyao, south of Mount Pulag. Commercial farming has set in. Benguet farmers have shifted towards Mount Polis after ravaging Mount Data and Mount Pulag. Some of the endangered endemic mammals and birds found in that area, are listed with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. The woody perennials and landscape plants are in danger of being lost forever. The picture is grim, sad and with very little hope that there is light ahead of the tunnel for Cordillera’s environment. As I write, there are fish kills in Chico river due to pocket mining activities in Sagada, Bontoc and elsewhere; of bird deaths in Loo, Buguias due to overuse of pesticides ; of nitrate contamination of groundwater in La Trinidad due to excessive chemical nitrogen fertilizer of thinning forests not only due to cutting but also due to acid rain; of extinction of endemic plants; entry of exotic and destructive scavengers and invasive species; of plant and tree biopiracy and DNA theft of human tissues from indigenous peoples. Sadly, wittingly or unwittingly, many government agencies, institutions and universities in the region, have promoted the genetic destruction and erosion. https://facebook/photo.php?fbid=636682706411723&set=a.584539504959377.1073741828.583480681731926&type=1&theater
Posted on: Fri, 25 Apr 2014 20:02:37 +0000
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