Envl Reaction Paper

Argell N. Gamboa 2012-0495

Reaction Paper Environmental Law

Our environment is the primary reason on why we people are still breathing and living. We therefore owe it to our environment their right to be preserved. The reports in my environmental law class made me realize how serious pollution can affect our environment and our lives. The existence of the law and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) doesn’t seem to control this situation maybe because of corruption and peoples’ uncooperativeness with environmental laws and policies. Let me discuss my reactions on the various reports in class. The first reporter tackled the DENR and its functions. As what I said a while ago, this office of the government should be stricter in implementing their own rules and regulations for the people to be more obedient. Proper education on how to take care of the environment should not only be initiated by the DENR but by the family and in school. If proper guidance is started when a child is still young, he will be instilled with appropriate values that will last a lifetime. Sustainable development was also discussed which aims to provide the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. In the case of the Philippines, I think that this situation is still far from sight but is not impossible. I think that this again will boil down to proper education that will start in the family and school. As poverty rate in the country continue to rise, level of education also continues to deteriorate. This is the primary reason why poverty greatly affects the way we take care of our environment. Another report dealt with the blue ecosystem which described its different components and on how rich the Philippines in this aspect. Since there are a lot of people in our country who consider fishing as their main source of income and food, there is a need to preserve this ecosystem for us to be able to still enjoy the fresh aquatic resources that this ecosystem offers. We also have world-class beaches which are sources of government funds through tourism and also generate a lot of employment for Filipinos. Businessmen and the government should be able to control the use of these wonders of nature for them to still be enjoyed by future generations. There are a lot of regulations and rules but the question on how to implement them arises because they seem to be not efficient and effective. A rule is there to be implemented not only by the government but also by the people because the ones that will be affected are the people themselves if the rules are being implemented or not. One report also talked about the green ecosystem together with the wild life which is also very diverse in our country. Explorations were conducted by experts and discovered that there are a lot of species that are unique in the Philippines and they continue to expand. This is the primary reason why the government should act now in working hand in hand with the people to protect our environment. The brown ecosystem includes the land resources that are found in our community. This is a very abused ecosystem because this is where we live and because of the right to property, people will exploit this environment as long as they benefit from them. This selfish behavior of most Filipinos will be the

start of destruction of this community as well as our environment. I am sure there are regulations on the extent of exploration of our environment, even if a person own the land, he doesn’t have the exclusive right to exploit it because there are instances when it affects people’s welfare. Like in the case of the pine trees in SM Baguio, even if they have the right over the land, they do not have the right over the trees because it affects the essence of Baguio City as a community and also the environment, thus it also affects the general welfare of the people. The idea of environmental laws, regulations and rules is to protect the environment. Appreciation of these ecosystems should not only be shown in pictures but should be preserved in such a way that they can still be appreciated by our future kids and grandchildren by seeing them in person. We cannot let greedy, powerful and corrupt individuals destroy these natural resources because once they are gone, we can never get it back. As long as we still have the capacity to act, we can still preserve the environment for us to continue living in this world and enjoy its many benefits. Lastly, I enjoyed the reports by my classmates because they are very informative and gave me a greater appreciation of the law and the environment itself. Learning these topics should not be limited to the schools but also to different communities most especially those who have no resources to go to school.