Privilege Speech
Representative Nur G. Jaafar
House of Representatives
November 27, 2007
RECKLESSLY TAMPERING WITH OUR ECOSYSTEM
Honorable Speaker and Distinguished members of the House:
With a great burden in my mind and heart, allow me to echo the cries of the people of Tawi-Tawi against the impending threat to their lives and future from the dumping of 300 tons of toxic urea and 43 tons of triple super-phosphate into the Sulu Sea by an Australian-based company. The Ocean Nourishment Corporation (ONC) claims to have secured a go-signal from the Philippine government to conduct a large-scale field experiment on its patented urea fertilization technology in the Sulu Sea that traverses the Island province of Tawi-Tawi. While I respect the scientific zeal with which the United Nations tackle the global warming issue, a little known very risky experiment that will cover South-Western Philippines sends fear among the people in the Sulu Archipelago with Tawi-Tawi at the receiving end whose lifeline belongs to the sea.
Ostensibly, the dumping of urea granules will stimulate the growth of phytoplankton which would eventually remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. But local communities and scientists are wary that this unproven claim may cause more harm than good:
• Consider, for instance, that the experiment produces harmful algal blooms that cause Red Tide, as well as other unknown disastrous effects on the ocean floors. A phenomenon traced to toxic chemical fertilizers that are carried by water runoff that pollute our waterways, starve our fishermen, and create scare among consumers. The hiatus when our fishermen wait for months on end before red tide subsides to venture anew to the seas.
• The Tubbataha Reefs, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a RAMSAR Wetlands Site, and the first Philippine National Marine Park in Palawan, part of which is Bancauan Island that is in Tawi-Tawi Province, is a critical biodiversity area in the Sulu-Sulawesi Sea that must be protected; and
Thousands and thousands of people all scattered through out the Sulu Archipelago, particularly in the eleven (11) island municipalities of Tawi-Tawi including the coastal areas in Sabah, Malaysia and Kalimantan Utara of Indonesia depends so much on the sea; nourished by food coming from marine life that abound in the area. Which ever site the dumping may occur in the Sulu Sea, water undercurrents could extend far and wide that could virtually spare not one community from risky algal bloom or Red Tide that may lead to dead zones of depleted oxygen like those in the Gulf of Mexico, a consequence of toxic substance spilled through the Mississippi river.
According to the U.P Marine Science Institute in Diliman, current and wind direction on site may speed up dispersal of nutrient-rich water up to critical reef areas. Corals do not thrive in nutrient-rich water, thus, destroying the ecology. The irony of the field experiment is the idea of sea nourishment that exists in the hypothetical growth of phytoplankton that will sequester and eliminate carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
How can we forget and ignore that the same urea that reaches the waterways causes algal blooms, e.g., red tide which is a bane that scares us from ingesting any fish, crustacean or any sea product?
How can we claim to nourish the sea when we fail to preserve its resources that nourish our own people?
How can we mitigate hunger aggravated by increase in population when the sea, which is the only lifeline of the people of Tawi-Tawi to avert malnutrition, is being threatened?
Why Tawi-Tawi and the whole of my people?
Let me point out that Tawi-Tawi boasts of an academic community of oceanographers in Mindanao State University – Tawi-Tawi College of Technology and Oceanography (MSU-TCTO) whose scientific endeavors will never veer away from the very mission of harnessing the ocean for the sake of the people. An experiment of gigantic proportions of 300 tons of urea and triple super-phosphate dumping is a contemptible diabolical idea presented in the subtlety of modern scientific jargon and the toxicity of human greed and vested interests.
It grieves me, Mr. Speaker, that a predominantly Muslim academic community like MSU-TCTO was not even given the courtesy of information from the College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, University of the Philippines Visayas (Miagao, Iloilo) through its Research on Ocean Nourishment Demonstration Project about the experiment. U.P Visayas tie-up with University of Sydney, Australia to be funded by another Australian Firm, Climate Research Ltd. has ventured into ocean fertilization experiments that are both dangerous and unacceptable even by our government agencies. They are joined by Borneo Marine Science Institute, Taytay sa Kauswagan (TSKI Iloilo City, Ocean Nourishment Foundation Ltd. (ONF) and Discovery Channel. No less than Dean Romeo D. Fortes of U.P Visayas sought from the Environment Management Bureau (EMB) of DENR for a Certificate of Non-Coverage (CNC) for the project.
The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) whose initial reaction is to welcome the U.P Visayas proposal, even cautioned about a harmful algal bloom as what occurred in Western Samar in January 2005 and further advised a close monitoring on dominant plankton cell density as well as presence of harmful species and that in an unlikely event, the process should be immediately suspended. Not even a copy of the project proposal was ever submitted to their office.
Ladies and gentlemen, are we pointing again to a scenario of decimating, in the guise of scientific progress, the Muslim people as specimens; by heroically playing host to an unproven experiment to avert climate change? This is betraying the destiny of our people to global patronage and its pretension to human welfare and progress.
My thoughts on this matter of sacrificing Muslims and fellow Filipinos find an ally in the daring recommendation of the esteemed academicians at the UP Diliman’s Marine Science Institute: …”before an Australian company conducts large scale experiments on ocean fertilization in Philippine waters, it should demonstrate their efficacy in Australian waters, such as the Gulf of Capentaria in their Northern Territories, a tropical one.” The International Maritime Organization (IMO) is courageously calling for a moratorium on ocean fertilization experiments and calls for the conduct of international oversight; some kind of United Nations control over these technologies, especially when they are commercialized.
ONC Managing Director Jim Ridley was quoted that one ton urea was already dumped into the Sulu Sea and may inject another one ton in the next month. A big quantity is intended to be dumped again in succeeding months when the northeast monsoon or “Amihan” will intensify which will certainly bring catastrophic effects on the islands and islets reefs of the Sulu Sea Archipelago and may even reach the Sulawesi. Most likely the one (1) ton of urea already dumped has already destroyed Tawi-Tawi seaweeds which are observed to be whitening (locals call it “ice-ice”).
Before seaweed farming was introduced to other parts of the Philippines, Tawi-Tawi enjoyed almost a monopoly of the product, at one time providing more or less 90% of the raw harvests. Tens of thousands seaweeds farmers along the shore depend on Sulu Sea, what more of hundreds of thousands of other Tawi-Tawi fishermen who venture out to the sea? How about those coming from other provinces? Multifold; three hundred (300) tons of urea and 43 tons of triple super-phosphate, indeed pose human misery; and in serious disregard of laws and scientific advisory bodies:
1. The Fisheries Code of the Philippines and the Presidential Decree No. 600 as revised by P.D. 979 known as Marine Pollution Decree of 1976 are declarations of policy to prevent and control of the pollution of seas by the dumping of wastes and other matter which create hazards to human health, harm living resources and marine life, damage amenities, or interfere with the legitimate uses of the sea within the territorial jurisdiction of the Philippines. Among the prohibited acts are: discharge, dump of oil, noxious gaseous substances and other harmful substances xxx by any method, means or manner, into or upon the territorial and inland navigable waters of the Philippines.
Tawi-Tawi is already hostage to surreptitious dumping of toxic waste in the guise of Innocent Passage of ocean going vessels passing through the Sibutu-Bongao channel from South China Sea and exiting to Sunda Strait towards the Indian Ocean and vice versa. Congress must consider passing a measure to ensure that vessels comply with our environmental laws and/or pay-up for damage to our ecosystem.
2. The London Convention on the prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes, to which the Philippines is a signatory, has shown “grave concern for the ecological risk of ocean fertilization.”
3. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, also said that the technology is largely speculative and environmental side effects have yet to be assessed.
4. Environmental groups including Southeast Asia Regional Initiatives for Community Empowerment (SEARICE), based in Quezon City, Erosion Technology and Concentration (ETC Group) from Ottawa, Third World Network in Malaysia (TWN, Greenpeace International, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and Kilusang Mangingisda (a fisherfolk organization) have petitioned against the ocean nourishment project.
5. Philippine Council for Aquatic and Marine Research and Development (PCAMRD), U.P Diliman’s Marines Science Institute and Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) of DENR also expressed concerns over the project’s repercussions.
6. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) is calling for a moratorium on ocean fertilization experiments and calls for the conduct of international oversight; some kind of United Nations control over these technologies, especially when they are commercialized.
The foregoing considered, acceding to the experiment in the name of science is to thread on dangerous waters because there are online data that points to pecuniary interests of those involved in the project particularly Ocean Nourishment Corporation Pty Limited (ONC), a geo-engineering firm based in Sydney, Australia which intends to win carbon credits and earn revenue by licensing its technology. It is also reportedly vying for the US$25 million Virgin Earth Prize to remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere. It is noted that another controversial firm, Planktons, a San Francisco-based company is also set to experiment off the Galapagos Islands in Mexico.
Mr. Speaker and dear colleagues, yes… we are all for measures to avert climate change and mitigate global warming through proven and safe methods like mangrove reforestation, tree planting etc. But we will never allow our people to be sacrificed in this contemplated experiment. The experiment of people’s lives by exposing them to the unpredictable consequences of dumping 300 tons of toxic urea into their idyllic sea environment and life line ecosystem that God has given our people as an everlasting evidence of His Greatness and Love of our people.
Why should their future be sacrificed?
And for what? And for whose gain?
Are we citizens of this country or not?
We have a right to demand from our government protection from an experiment that could destroy our future.
Lastly, Mr. Speaker, like those who clamored against the dumping of toxic wastes in Subic Bay and those who called for opposition to the pending entry of Japanese wastes into the country, I call for the proactive response of my distinguished colleagues in this Chamber to join me and the people of the Sulu Archipelago against the dire consequences of dumping toxic urea and phosphate into the Sulu Sea. Indeed, we call upon the government to give this serious threat to marine life and survival of our country’s Southern Frontier, the attention it critically deserves. We call no less than H.E President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to take immediate steps to protect our people against the impending danger to their lives and future.
Thank you for your kind indulgence and attention.
Rep. Nur G. Jaafar
