MANILA, Philippines—An environmentalists’ group appealed on Thursday to the Philippine National Oil Co.-Energy Development Corp. to stop cutting down trees on Mt. Kanlaon Natural Park pending a court ruling on a petition for a temporary restraining order.
“They should stop cutting the trees while the case is being heard. They can impose a moratorium meantime," Green Watch Philippines chair Don Flordeliza told reporters in a briefing.
The Save Mt. Kanlaon Coalition petitioned the Bacolod Regional Trial Court to stop the PNOC-EDC geothermal project, arguing that the conversion of a protected area for geothermal exploration was unconstitutional.
According to Green Watch, PNOC-EDC has started cutting down some of the more than 4,000 trees in the park’s buffer zone to make way for the geothermal project.
“[Since] two days ago, a total of 907 trees have been cut and 2.7 kilometers of road have been opened," said Flordeliza. “We’re afraid half of the trees would be cut by the time the court hands down its ruling.’’
PNOC-EDC has been given a permit by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to cut down 4,213 trees on a 12.5-hectare site in the park to make way for roads and other infrastructure.
The 12.5 hectares are part of the 169-hectare buffer zone, which was allotted to the PNOC-EDC for its geothermal exploration by Republic Act No. 9154, or the Mt. Kanlaon Natural Park Act.
6 comments:
It's true that some trees need to be cut down for development. But there has to be a limit. Deforestation could lead to several deaths.
I agree with you jugo cause like what happens when there is a strong storm often landslides occur which takes the lives of many this happens because their are less trees to absorb the rain fall. But if really necessary for development the most we can do is minimize the number of trees to be cut down, in a way we must be the ones to make way for the trees.
THE GLOBAL WARMING.
we should all remember that the CO2which is the one of the greenhouse gas is consumed by the plants.
it's sad that they have to cut half of the trees in a particular area. but i agree with jugo and blogleaders that there must be a limit in cutting these trees. i'm against the cutting of our virgin forests because we're supposed to be an agricultural country.
I agree with jugo and blogleaders. They can't reason out that they would replace trees that have been cut down(old trees) because newly planted trees cannot do what old trees can usually do. What I mean is, new trees cannot hold the land and keep them intact; which means if these trees are cut down soil erosion will occur. Landslides. One more thing is that trees can help lessen the effects of global warming.
deforestation is bad because it can cause flooding in the towns near the deforested area
Post a Comment