Cleaning the Atmosphere

Mirant Foundation gives its share in countering global warming

By Gail J. Pelayo

One of the trade-offs of advancement is the deterioration of the environment. Heavy industries, which sustain the economies of most countries, churn out most of the wastes detrimental to Mother Nature. This predicament has pushed companies to arrest the damaging effects of their businesses to the environment.

The Mirant Pagbilao Corporation and Mirant Foundation are among those who answered the call to protect and preserve their immediate surroundings. Their mission: restore the second most diverse mangrove forest in the world located at Pagbilao, Quezon and protect it from further deterioration. They launched the “Carbon Sink Initiative,” a project that aims to reduce and absorb the carbon deposits in the atmosphere, a cost-efficient and effective way of reducing carbon dioxide and countering global warming.

Solution to Global Warming

One of the world’s greatest environmental problems is the global warming phenomenon. Greenhouse gases produced in the earth’s surface such as carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide – through natural processes and through industrial activities – trap the heat that are supposed to be emitted outside the earth’s surface. This has been beneficial because without the heat-trapping gases, the earth’s temperature could be lower than what is normal for living organisms, including humans.

However, too much heat trapped in the earth’s surface could increase its temperature and may contribute to drastic climate changes. This could negatively affect ecosystems and human health and alter forests, crop yields, and water supplies.

The carbon sink is intended to “hold and drain” excess carbon in the atmosphere using forests, agricultural soil or wetlands as “storage facilities,” thus preventing the escalation of the earth’s temperature. The project rests on the fact that plants absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and uses it as an important component in the process of food production.

The Carbon Sink Initiative

Mirant’s Carbon Sink Initiative aims to reforest 150 hectares of mangrove and 150 hectares of upland forests in the municipalities of Pagbilao and nearby Padre Burgos. It was inaugurated in April 2003. It consists of three main components: upland reforestation, mangrove rehabilitation, and the creation of an eco-destination site.

The upland reforestation is located at the Pagbilao Experimental Forest. The reforestation of the upland community is seen to augment the water supply in the community and help prevent soil erosion and flash floods by 80 percent. Within five years, they will have replanted 100 percent of endemic species to the forest.

The mangrove rehabilitation will cover the denuded mangrove forests of Pagbilao to Padre Burgos covering a total of 150 hectares. The restoration of a healthy mangrove ecosystem will protect coastlines from erosion, severe storm damage, and siltation.

Not only does this project benefit the environment, it will have accomplished another problem besieging the province: unemployment. The rehabilitation of the mangrove forests entails the hiring of manpower coming from nearby communities to police, monitor, and attend to the needs of the mangroves.

Last but not least, the project managers have set up an eco-destination site which will serve as the main educational and training site of the whole project. The site will include training rooms, exhibit rooms, bunkhouses for guests, and a one-kilometer boardwalk from where mangroves can be viewed and seen. The site was set up to complement the project with research and study that could help in the further development of the upland and mangrove forests.

United for the environment

Mirant’s initiative to protect and preserve the country’s mangrove forests is considered as the largest undertaking of its kind by the private sector. Not only that, it also gathered the participation of entities from different sectors, such as the Department of Energy and Natural Resources, local government unit, community and stakeholders, non-governmental organizations, and, of course, Mirant Philippines. To ensure the success of the project, the proponents have organized themselves into different committees in charge of specific functions that will oversee the operations of the project’s three components.

The convenience that technology and modernity brings have cost serious amount of damage to the environment. The task to restore and rehabilitate the remaining forests is far from easy; close to being ambitious, but is, nonetheless, possible. Its realization will be the effective solution to arrest the increasing temperature of the atmosphere that will save us from the peril of global warming.