Trees have life, too

By Renato Tibon

“A tree whose hungry mouth is pressed, against the earth’s sweet flowing breast; a tree that looks at God all day, and lift her leafy arms to pray.” – From “Trees” by Joyce Kilmer

Trees, Threats, Time-out

 IF trees could talk, what would they say? Well, it won’t be difficult to guess, aside from prayer of praise and thanksgiving being among nature’s firsts to salute the dawning of each day, they would petition the Most High to stop humans decimating their kind heedlessly. Third in the order of Creation as it were, vegetation, plants and trees and the ecosystem supporting them have to deal with natural processes of the Earth when fire, water, and wind conspire with heatwaves, storms, and violent geologic upheavals to raze or uproot them as nature’s way of re-ordering, healing or rejuvenating itself. Coupled with human activity however, environmental degradation and ecological destruction reached a cataclysmic proportion that would cry for justice if nature can only speak for itself.

The role of trees for a healthy ecological balance cannot be overemphasized. Trees are the crowning glory of a fully developed ecological system that provides habitat and food for birds and other animals including humans. During the photosynthetic process, trees absorb harmful carbon monoxide and maintain carbon dioxide levels in the environment and in turn produce the oxygen that we breathe. According to studies, one tree can give life support to 4 persons and together with several healthy trees, they help reduce the greenhouse effect protecting the community living within their vicinity and mitigate global warming.

The forests of the Philippines are among the 10 most endangered in the world according to global environment group Conservation International. The country’s hills and mountains are one of the world’s most heavily deforested areas, largely caused by widespread illegal logging and developmental expansion to accommodate industrial, agricultural and human settlements with total forest cover dropping from 70 percent to just 20 percent. The loss of these trees such as those of the burning forests of the Amazon and bushfires elsewhere contributes largely to changes in climate patterns like flash floods and destructive typhoons which have increased in intensity in recent years. Plants and animals and many species that contribute to the health of the ecosystem, including pollinators, natural enemies of pests, soil organisms are in decline as a consequence of the destruction and degradation of habitats, overexploitation, and pollution.

Nature demands a breather and healing, and for humanity, a time to seriously consider the future of mankind now threatened by its neglect and irresponsible stewardship. If those plants, vegetation, trees, animals and forest organisms have a mind of their own and can articulate them, they would demand equal rights and hold rallies putting up a large tarp with “Justice for Nature” emblazoned on it.

Rights, regulations, rescue

Today, environmental laws regulate the use and exploitation of nature by humans. Some countries which legalized fracking, drilling, and open-pit mining faced consequences that have proven catastrophic. Perhaps a new way of looking at the relationship between humanity and the natural world offers a way to avert disaster. In 1972, law professor Christopher Stone published a seminal article “Should Trees Have Standing?” that explored the possibility of recognizing natural ecosystems and processes as legal entities. He described how women and slaves had long been treated as rightless in law and suggested that, just as they had eventually attained rights, so should trees and other nonhuman living things.

Existing legal systems force us to think of nature anthropocentrically in terms of human concerns rather than what concerns nature. Many of us can’t see the forest for the trees. Amid a climate and biodiversity crisis, there is a growing consensus that it is time to secure the highest form of legal protection for nature by recognizing that natural ecosystems and processes possess certain inherent and inalienable rights. Worldwide, legislation and jurisprudence have begun to accumulate in this new area of law.

In 2006, the first law recognizing the legal rights of nature was enacted in the borough of Tamaqua, Pennsylvania. The community sought to prevent dredging sludge laden with PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyl) being dumped in an abandoned coal mine. Communities across more than 10 US states have now followed suit, including New Hampshire, Colorado, and Pittsburgh.

In 2008, Ecuador enshrined the rights of nature – or Pachamana or Mother Earth – in its constitution, the first country to do so. Since then, Bolivia has enacted a law defining the earth as “a collective subject of public interest”, and declaring both the planet and the life-systems inhabiting it as titleholders of inherent rights specified in the law.

Nepalese environmental advocates are developing a constitutional amendment that would, if adopted, recognize the right of the Himalayas to be free from pollution. In Mexico, Pakistan, Australia, and other countries, frameworks for extending legal rights to natural systems are being proposed and legislated. Courts have also ruled that ecosystems are capable of possessing rights under the law.

As the planet teeters on the edge of an irreversible catastrophe; it is time to make a fundamental shift in humanity’s relationship with nature before it is too late. Environmental survival is human survival. In the Philippines, a new law will require students to plant at least 10 trees before graduation and contribute to the global movement of planting at least 90 million trees a year. The Philippines breaks Guinness world tree-planting record for most trees planted in an hour with 3.2 million seedlings sown as part of a national reforestation program. The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. The second best time is, to paraphrase a Chinese proverb, yesterday.

To its credit, the City Council of Cagayan de Oro passed an ordinance declaring July 4th as Arbor Day or Tree Planting Day in the city. The legislation complies with RA 10176 which mandates all LGUs to proclaim its own Arbor Day. Councilor Edna Dahino, the ordinance’s proponent said: “We recognize the need to protect our diversity by planting more trees and by passing this ordinance, we make a very real contribution to the environment and take a positive step towards offsetting the damage we inflicted to our mother earth created by a modern lifestyle”.

As a congressional initiative, Cagayan de Oro City District 2 Representative Rufus B. Rodriguez proposed a bill to be known as “Rights of Nature Act,” which seeks to recognize natural ecosystems, populations, and processes as legal entities sui generis entitled to certain inherent and inalienable rights, such as those related to their existence, regeneration and restoration. As nature nor trees cannot do so directly, environmental advocates with the necessary standing can petition our courts on its behalf with the former being considered as the real party-in-interest and all damages and monetary claims awarded by the court shall be held in trust by a conservation committee and used for its restoration and renewal.

“People who will not sustain trees will soon live in a world that will not sustain people.” (Bryce Nelson)