The price of urbanization

Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.

NINFA R. LEONARDIA Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ Editor CHERYL CRUZ Desk Editor PATRICK PANGILINAN Busines Editor NIDA A. BUENAFE Sports Editor RENE GENOVE Bureau Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer

The head of the environmental group Worldwide Fund for Nature- Philippines blames people, and not the monsoon rains for the flooding of Metro Manila that affected an estimated 14 million residents last week. In an analysis, Jose Ma. Lorenzo Tan, CEO of WWF- Philippines, says that the latest disaster to hit the Philippines was a result of an unfettered and mindless march to urbanization that had replaced the soil and trees that could have absorbed the rains and reduced flooding in the concrete jungles of Metro Manila.

Tan says that the buildings, the concrete and the asphalt that cover the capital, have trapped and increased the temperature in the metropolis, creating an “urban heat island” or UHI. Nivagine Nievares, a weather specialist at the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration, corroborates this claim by saying that this UHI effect distorts the heat balance, wind circulation and precipitation in the city. According to Nievares, the UHI phenomenon generates oppressive heat during the dry season and could help intensify the monsoon downpours during the wet season.

In addition, the findings of Tan and Nievares clearly showed that rapid urbanization was the culprit for the UHI. Tan says that the problem lies in Metro Manila’s poor planning, political gridlock, inadequate or inappropriate urban management, the inadequate implementation of zoning rules and land use plans, and haphazard real estate development among many other problems. He also warned that Metro Manila could see more extreme and erratic weather in the future, thanks to the triple whammy of the UHI effect, climate change, and the country’s location along the typhoon path.

As the residents and the government officials of Metro Manila struggle to rebuild and protect their city from future floods, it is also time for those of us in the provinces to reassess our vulnerability to such situations, and to prepare for the likely event that our cities and infrastructures will be tested by the same volume of rainfall that the nameless Habagat poured upon the helpless National Capital Region last week. Are our storm drains big enough? Are they kept clear of garbage and debris? How is the state of our esteros and waterways? Have they been capitulated to illegal squatters and greedy developers so they can no longer serve as natural storm drains during downpours? Are zoning rules and land use plans being followed at all? Are there any long-term plans to improve flood control and management infrastructure, or are roads the only thing our elected officials are capable of building? Or are we still tempting fate by doing nothing and relying solely on emergency services and relief goods to bail us out, if and when our luck runs out and the non-stop rains do start falling?*