DISASTER Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) are two sides of the same coin, but as it is now, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) and the Climate Change Commission (CCC) are two separate agencies that should really work together as if they are conjugal twins.
Needless to say, natural disasters and climate changes have other effects on the economy of the affected areas, effects such as the damage to the local infrastructure and the loss of livelihoods. Worst than that, these twin factors aggravate other local problems such as the incidences of hunger and poverty, and the spread of diseases, as well as setbacks in local education and healthcare targets.
Whether they like it or not, the local communities that are affected by these twin problems have no choice but to become multitasking, for example they have to implement programs and projects that would reduce the impacts of the natural disasters, at the same time that they would also have to implement other programs and projects that would increase their local food production and ensure their supply of water.
Aside from their supply of water, they would also have to ensure their supply of power, more so if they are off the power grid, or if their connections to the power grid have been destroyed by the disasters that have hit their localities.
For sure, there are many ways of solving their problems, but among other solutions, I believe that the most practical solution for them is to improve their own local economy, with the end goal of not only achieving their short term productivity, but also their long term sustainability. It is against this backdrop that I am now trying to “invent” the concept of building a “coastal economy”.
In simple terms, what that really means is making the coastal communities achieve the twin goals of reducing the impacts of natural disasters, at the same time increasing their incomes by way of having several means of production that are disaster proof and climate resilient, hopefully that is.
Since the “coastal economy” is a difficult concept to explain, I would rather give actual examples of what could be grown or planted, rather than talk about abstract notions that might sound rather vague.
My first example is the planting or replanting of coconuts, a species of trees in the palm family that grows very well in the coastal areas, because it is actually very well adapted to salt water and highly saline soils. Botanically, the fruit of the coconut tree is a drupe and is not a nut.
Some would even say that the fruit is more of a berry than a nut. In that connection, others would also say that the fruit of a strawberry is actually not a berry, but a nut. Just like the coconut tree, the “talisay” trees that are often the neighbours of coconut trees are actually sea almonds that are true nuts.
Nipa or Nypa is another species of trees in the palm family that is sometimes called the “mangrove palm”, not so much because it is true mangrove, but because it is found in the same areas where mangroves are found, in the same saline or brackish swamps and swampy environments.
In the sense that the “talisay” trees are the natural neighbours of coconut trees, the nipa trees are also the natural neighbours of mangrove trees. Wherever mangrove trees are found, planktons would also grow and where there are planktons, the fish would also breed and grow, together with shrimps and crabs. It is said that wherever smaller fish are found, the bigger fish “butanding” (whale shark) would also come to feed, and so the cycle continues.
Kolo or rimas (breadfruit) is now almost practically forgotten as a local food source is. It is a species of trees that is closely related to jackfruit. Along with ube (yam), breadfruit is said to be the fruit that enabled shipwrecked sailors in the Pacific islands to survive. It is called breadfruit because it tastes like bread when it is cooked.
The fact is, the sailors and the natives in those islands survived on breadfruit and yam without eating rice or other grains. In a worst case scenario, that could also happen in the Philippines if there is a shortage of rice, but that really need not happen, because there are varieties of rice that could grow in saline and brackish environments, even without irrigation. At the edges of coastal land, there are varieties of upland rice that could also grow, also without irrigation.
As it is already happening now, many areas within and beyond the municipal waters are either too dirty or too warm for fish to grow. Either that or it has already become too dangerous to go fishing in those areas, because of disaster risks and climate changes.
The obvious solution to this problem is to shift to inland fisheries, not necessarily in natural inland waters, but in fish tanks and fish pens that are above the ground, either using recycled drums or recycled tarpaulins with wooden, bamboo or steel frames. For those who may be sceptical about this idea, I might as well tell you that this is already a tried and tested approach, and as a matter of fact, it is sometimes called “urban fisheries”./PN
