There is a strong link between a healthy ecosystem, proper land use, livelihood and food security.
This is the opinion of Antonio M. Claparols, president of the Ecological Society of the Philippines (ESP), who pointed out that if the ecosystem is not healthy, there will be biodiversity loss and that if people do not use land according to the dictares of nature, there will be loss of livelihood, chronic concentrated poverty, the spectre of jobless growth and insufficient food for all.
Claparols stressed that life support systems must be judiciously preserved and used for the benefit of all. “Environment and poverty are interlinked with each other, as experienced by famine infested areas in Africa. There is desertification, loss of biodiversity and lack of food for the inhabitants,” he added.In a statement, the PSE official said: “We cannot wait for this thing to happen in the Philippines, as there is insufficient areas not being serviced by irrigation and many food producing areas are hurt by lack of rainfall or too much of it.
“The country’s once fertile lands are now slowly being replaced by malls and buildings and settlement houses giving rise to insufficient food supply. The common practice of importing foodstuff not only drains the local foreign exchange reserve; it also deprives our countrymen of proper livelihood due to government neglect and the lack or insufficient rainfall.“The government should do away with cosmetic remedies to amply supply basic food and other services needed particularly in far flung communities. Years of neglect have made people in the countryside troop to cities only to live in blight under in human conditions.”Claparols explained that the Philippines is supposed to be able to grow enough food to feed its people. However, the influx of cemented structures, golf courses, shopping malls and subdivisions has created a negative impact on the environment, so much so that areas previously planted to rice are no longer there, he noted.