Prepare for Crisis! Let’s Build Water Catchments, Mini-Dams, Small Impoundings

The next biggest challenge for many countries in the world would be all about water, the lack of it.

The Philippines will also face serious problems with water, not really the lack of it but mainly its inability to manage this important resource.

Napapabilang tayo sa iilang bansa lang sa mundo na sagana sa tubig, lalo na kung tag-ulan at panahon ng bagyo.

Subali’t kapag hindi umulan ng isang buwan, natutuyot na ang mga tanim.

Ano ang problema natin?

Our governance mindset is reactive rather than pro-active.

Pagkatapos ng tag-init na naubusan ng tubig ang La Mesa Dam, panay ang meeting para pag-usapan ang tubig.

Noong umulan na, nawala ang atensyon sa tubig at nakalimutan na.

Funds are poured into the construction of evacuation centers in flood-prone areas rather than on projects which would mitigate flooding.

Kailangan natin baguhin itong pananaw na ito.

First, we really have to plant trees in our mountains, especially in Luzon.

In critical watersheds and headwaters of river basins, government must plant natural trees and declare these areas as “No Entry” Zones for people.

Stiff penalties and even imprisonment should hang over the heads of violators and poachers.

In denuded Ancestral Domains and Public Lands, let us introduce industrial tree species, fruit trees and bamboos so that there would be ecinomic returns.

Then, we should build water catchments, small water impoundings and mini-dams in every mountain gulley, creeks and run-off rivers.

Finally, let us build environment friendly and sustainable irrigation systems like the Solar-Powered Irrigation Systems (SPIS).

We have to do this or else disaster would be inevitable.

There is one thing that I learned in my long my years in government service and that is the need for leaders to prepare for the unexpected.

#GovernanceIsCommonSense!

#foodgrowswherewaterflows!

(Illustration by Samuel Ponsica while the maps were downloaded from public websites. I took the photos of the denided portions of Sierra Madre while in a helicopter in 2018.)