BEHIND THE PLOW: Global Warming and Trees

MALUNGON, Sarangani (MindaNews / 3 October) – In 2023 Earth’s average surface temperature was 14.98 degree Celsius, about 1.36 degrees Celsius hotter than in 1850-1900 period, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). It is projected to increase by about 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2050 and 2 to 4 degrees Celsius by 2100.

In the Philippines, average surface temperature was 27.8 degrees Celsius in 2023 and is observed to be warming at an average of 0.1 degree Celsius per decade since 1951.

In Riovista Forest Gardens, we do not need statistics to know that temperature is going up. In the past years our cool-climate poinsettias were robust, exploding in red, crimson and yellow “blooms” every December. This year they are wilting and dying one by one. In the past, by this month climate in our mountain farm is already mild, lower than 30 degrees Celsius. Now it is often a searing 35+ degrees Celsius, especially early afternoon. Some of our pine trees have died. New leaves of eggplants are curling due to intense heat. Leaves of young corn wilt under the sun. Coconuts bear fewer and smaller nuts.

Global warming causes

Let us review or high school biology and geology.

Greenhouse gases trap the sun’s heat and keep the atmosphere warm. Excess heat escapes into space. These gases include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, chlorofluorocarbons, ozone and water vapor. All these occur naturally. Without these gases, Earth would be so cold, life will not exist. So they are good for all life, including us.

These are so natural that in fact during photosynthesis, trees and plants use carbon dioxide, along with water and sunlight to create its food (sugar) and the oxygen we breathe. One half of the carbon dioxide is captured, stored in the body mass of the plant and the other half is returned to the atmosphere during respiration.

Animals take oxygen and release carbon dioxide during respiration. Carbon dioxide is even used to make your favorite soda fizz.

We all know that fossil fuels (coal and petroleum) are just remains of plants and animals which sank to the shallow seafloor, buried under sediments and subjected to intense pressure and temperature over millions of years. Planktons decomposed into natural gas and petroleum. Plants become coal.

Carbon dioxide stored in the body mass of these ancient plants remained even as these are transformed into gas, petroleum or coal. When these are burned, carbon dioxide is released back into the atmosphere.

As in everything, the problem is with excess.

Since the industrial revolution and the discovery of fossil fuels, use of coal, gasoline, diesel and natural gas increased exponentially. Cars. Airplanes. Ships. Factories. Power generation. And so forth. So atmosphere carbon dioxide has become thicker and thicker, as well as with the other greenhouse gases. As a result more and more heat of the sun is trapped in the Earth atmosphere, preventing it from escaping back into space.

The result is global warming which contributes to climate changes like flood, drought, weather changes, increase sea level, melting glaciers, and many others. All bad for man.

Solutions

We also know the solutions. Reduce carbon dioxide emission and capture excess atmosphere carbon dioxide.

Reduce atmosphere carbon dioxide by using less fossil fuels and converting to renewable and clean energy. Solar. Wind. Geothermal. Hydropower. Ocean energy. Bioenergy. Hydrogen.

Factory and coal-fired power plant carbon dioxide emissions can be isolated, transported and buried into rocks, ocean or soil. These methods are expensive.

The simplest way of capturing carbon dioxide is by planting trees. It is easy, inexpensive and can be done almost anywhere and by anybody. It can be just a tree or two in the backyard, a fruit orchard, a coffee plantation, a forest or woodlands.

Indeed, through mass media and schools, awareness among the populace about global warming, climate change and the adverse effects of both is higher. There are many government initiatives in protecting existing forests like ban on logging and cutting; reforestation like the National Greening Program (NGP) and mangrove reforestation. All these programs have limited success and hounded by inefficiency, graft and corruption.

Private companies have included in their corporate social responsibility programs (CSR) tree planting.

Many schools have tree planning activities in cooperation with private landowners or organizations.

But there is one huge sector which the government has yet to tap in promoting tree planting and reforestation. These are the land owners and farmers.

Total agricultural land area in the country is 13.57 million hectares, out of the total 30 million hectares. (Statistica /NICCDIES),

If only 10% of this area is dedicated to trees (food forest, woodlands, reforestation) it will add 1.4 million hectares to our current 7.67 million hectares of forest, which is only 24% of the total land area of the Philippines. (WorldRainforest). For comparison, Malaysia has 55% and Indonesia has 58% forest cover.

Education and Incentive

There are two ways to harness this tree planting and reforestation potential.

First, the government, thru DENR and the LGUs, intensifies the education of land owners, especially the small farmers, on the issues of global warming and climate change. And what they can do to help address the issues.

Second, incentivize farmer participation in reforestation by way of rebate/reduction in real property taxes. For example, if a landowner/farmer devotes 10% of his land to food forest, tree farm, reforestation or woodlands, his realty tax is reduced by 10%.

This simple solution will reduce real property taxes in the short term but it will have multiple benefits in the long term.

First, it will help address the big issue of global warming and climate change.

Second, if devoted to high value crop with export potentials as value-added products, it will make land more productive and higher income to farmers. Durian, mangosteen, pomelo, cacao, coffee. More vibrant agriculture sector will help grow the local GDP.

Third, it will help improve the micro climate within the province or municipality.

Fourth, floods and drought will be minimized. Elimination or reduction in cost of addressing these disasters offset loss in taxes.

Sometimes solutions to problems stare us in the face but we are unaware of them. This is one case.

(MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. Edmundo Y. Cejar is a regenerative farming practitioner and a natural reforestation advocate. Before shifting to farming, he worked for Dutch Philips Discrete Semiconductors, Gillette, Union Carbide and Davao Fruits.)