FROM ABANDONED FISHPONDS TO MANGROVE FORESTS

FROM ABANDONED FISHPONDS TO MANGROVE FORESTS Environmentalists seem to have hit the jackpot when DENR Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga ordered the inspection and evaluation of abandoned, underdeveloped and underutilized (AUU) fishponds, to be able to identify potential areas for mangrove restoration. Although it may still take some time before the order becomes fully implemented, she has already fired the first shot. Just to give this order a historical perspective, hundreds if not thousands of wetlands and mangrove forests were destroyed in the past, to be converted into commercial fishponds. Perhaps at that time, there was not much appreciation about how the destruction of wetlands and mangrove forests could affect the environment. To be fair, nobody objected also to the potential of food production at that time, with new economic growth of course. Although food production will never be replaced as our top national priority, we must now balance that nowadays with our other top priorities of climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction. After evaluations by a Technical Working Group (TWG), some of these AUU areas could be converted back into wetlands and mangrove forests, by way of replanting and regeneration. Let us all help the DENR in this endeavor, because it is good for all of us. IKE SENERES/06-02-2024