ikeseneres

A CALL FOR VOLUNTEER LAWYERS TO HELP NON-GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONS I am making a personal appeal to our Filipino lawyers: Can you spare some of your time to help an NGO help other people? I am currently partnering with a crowdfunding website that can allow qualified non-government organizations to raise funds online without paying platform fees or commissions . For small NGOs, this could make a very big difference because every peso saved from fundraising costs can go directly to their beneficiaries. But there is a problem. For donors to receive the appropriate tax benefits, the NGO must first comply with the requirements for recognition as a qualified donee institution. Depending on the NGO's classification and program, this involves dealing with the BIR and, where applicable, the appropriate accrediting agency. This is where I need volunteer lawyers. The BIR already has procedures and documentary requirements for applications involving qualified donee institutions. In fact, its Ci...

WHAT ARE THE LESSONS WE CAN LEARN FROM THE EXTINCTION OF FIFTEEN FISH SPECIES IN LAKE LANAO? Although I have already written about this subject, my conscience compels me to write about it again. Maybe there are some points I forgot to raise. More importantly, I want to ask: how do we make sure that this will never happen again, not only in Lake Lanao but in our other lakes and rivers? Fifteen endemic fish species of Lake Lanao are gone. They cannot simply be brought back. The lesson should therefore be painful but simple: prevention is much cheaper than extinction. From what I have gathered, several factors contributed to this tragedy: overfishing and destructive fishing; the introduction of invasive species; pollution and habitat degradation; and inadequate or delayed conservation action. Scientific assessments have particularly identified invasive fish and overexploitation as major threats. I hope someone can prove me wrong, but are these same threats not present in many other Philip...

ARE CRABLETS FOR CRAB GROWING TAKEN FROM MANGROVE FORESTS? I keep seeing advertisements on social media for what are sometimes called crab “condos” or cabinets, where people raise mud crabs for fattening. This made me ask a very simple question: Where do the crablets come from? The answer is both interesting and worrying. Yes, a significant portion of the crablets used by the Philippine mud-crab industry still comes from the wild. SEAFDEC/AQD says the industry remains largely dependent on wild collection, although hatchery technology has been developed to provide an alternative. And where are these tiny crabs found? Mangroves, tidal flats, estuaries and other coastal nursery areas. Now I have another question: If these are the natural nurseries of our mud crabs, how much can we take out before we start damaging the resource itself? I am not against crab farming. In fact, I am very much in favor of livelihood programs that allow communities living near mangrove forests to earn from them...

SOME QUESTIONS THAT FARMERS SHOULD ASK WHEN MEETING WITH LOCAL STAFF OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Many of us have attended meetings where government officials talk and farmers listen. But shouldn't it also be the other way around? If farmers are given the opportunity to meet local staff of the Department of Agriculture (DA), I believe they should come prepared with questions. What crop should I plant? What fertilizer should I use? How do I control pests? What is the best time to plant? But I would go beyond these technical questions. I would ask: How much will I spend? How much can I earn? And who will buy my harvest? For me, these are the real questions. The DA's Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) is actually mandated to provide training, farm and business advisory services, technology demonstrations and information support. ATI also uses learning sites, farmer field schools and digital extension programs. So why not make these meetings more interactive? I would ask the...

WHAT CAN WE DO TO CONSERVE THE REMAINING NATIVE AND ENDEMIC FISH SPECIES? I have been reading many sad stories about endangered wildlife, but one story recently really made me sad: 15 fish species endemic to Lake Lanao are already extinct in the wild. Gone. Dead. And because they were endemic to Lake Lanao, we cannot simply go to another country and bring them back. This is the big difference between a native species and an endemic species. A native species may also naturally occur elsewhere, while an endemic species is found nowhere else in the world. According to the IUCN assessment, 15 endemic Lake Lanao cyprinids were declared extinct, while two others were classified as Critically Endangered, Possibly Extinct. How did we allow this to happen? Why did we not know early enough that these fish were disappearing? I do not want to point fingers. But whose fault was it? Was it the LGUs around Lake Lanao? The DENR Biodiversity Management Bureau? BFAR? MSU? Or all of us, in one way or ano...

AUSTRALIA BUILDS AN EXCELLENT MODEL OF A COMMUNITY OWNED SOLAR PARK What exactly is a solar park? And has anyone heard of this model being built in the Philippines? I recently came across an interesting Australian model that immediately caught my attention. It is called the Yiray Clean Energy Park , formerly known as the Orange Community Renewable Energy Park, in New South Wales. It has 11,676 solar panels , a capacity of 6.8 megawatts , and a 10.5 MWh battery storage system . It is expected to generate more than 13.2 gigawatt-hours of electricity annually—enough to power approximately 2,150 homes . But for me, the most interesting part is not the number of solar panels. It is community ownership . The project was developed through a partnership between energy developer EDP and the Energy Democracy Central West NSW Co-operative. About 128 local community co-owners invested $1.36 million directly into the project. In simple language, I would call this “combined solar” instead of “indi...