Land Pollution in the Philippines

What Is Land Pollution?                                             

Land pollution is the contamination of the land through the dumping of waste and garbage and the introduction of toxins into the environment. Acid rain, the spreading of water pollution to surrounding beaches and river banks, litter and even new construction sites can all be sources of land pollution.

What Effects Does Land Pollution Have?                  

Some of the effects that land pollution leaves behind are obvious ones, such as unsightly piles of garbage, landfills and loss of environments surrounding new construction. Many of the worst effects are actually less obvious to the eye.

Chemical Effects on Life
One of the biggest threats to the eco-system caused by land pollution is chemical contamination. Plastics, toxins in wastes like anti-freeze and other chemicals seep into the ground where they remain. Many modern day chemicals and materials either do not biodegrade or break down, or if they do, then break down into smaller chemical particles. These particles poison the ground itself. Plants growing in the ground, animals that eat the plants and even humans are all affected by these chemicals. This can lead to the loss of some types of plant and animal life as well as create long-term health problems such as cancer in humans.

Damaging Effects to the Land
When land pollution is bad enough, it damages the soil. This means that plants may fail to grow there, robbing the eco-system of a food source for animals. Eco-systems may also be upset by pollution when the soil fails to sustain native plants, but can still support other vegetation. Invasive weeds that choke off the remaining sources of native vegetation can spring up in areas that have been weakened by pollution.

Erosion
In some cases, pollution can damage the soil to the point that vegetation no longer grows. This may lead to erosion of the soil. Erosion leads to the loss of top soil in the earth. This loss can spread, meaning that nearby areas that may not be contaminated with pollutants begin to erode, spreading the loss of vegetation and life.

Spreading Pollution

Land pollution can be caused by contact with contaminated areas, like polluted water ways or acid rain created from air pollution. This pollution can spread in the other direction so that polluted land has a negative impact on surrounding environments. Land pollution that contaminates soil can also contaminate waterways. Contaminated water that evaporates into the atmosphere can fall back to the earth as acid rain, causing the cycle of contamination and pollution to continue.

Dealing With Land Pollution                                       

Many of the long-lasting effects of land pollution, such as the leaching of chemicals into the soil cannot be easily reversed. The best way to deal with land pollution is to keep it from happening in the first place.

As little as two percent of waste is recycled. If recycling efforts are stepped-up, then the amount of waste being added to landfills can be decreased. Preventing the overuse of soil that makes it acidic and contaminates nearby areas, will keep the problem from spreading. Wherever possible, contribute to cleanup efforts in your area to help prevent land pollution from becoming worse.

Source: http://greenliving.lovetoknow.com/effects-land-pollution

What I Think...

Nowadays, people throw their garbage anywhere without any care. They don't think about the possible effects of their actions. We need to be more aware of what's happening in the world around us and do our best to preserve Mother Earth. Throwing our trashes in the right place would be a good start. We could also think about segregating our trashes and recycling whatever can still be used (like plastic bags or bottles). Little by little, we can fix what we have done. A small change can make a huge difference.

(Plants are being placed on recycled plastic bottles)

Philippine Tarsiers in Captivity

According to: Endangered Species International, Inc. (Copyright 2011) 

The Philippine Tarsier

This species (Carlito Syrichta) is endemic to the Southern Philippine islands of Bohol, Samar, Leyte, and Mindanao. It occupies mainly forests and bush thickets. It has also been observed in mangrove forests. Each subspecies has a very precise and limited distribution: C.S. Syrichta can be found on the islands of Leyte and Samar while C.S. Carbonariusis Und is only found in the island of Mindanao and C.S. Fraterculus only lives in Bohol.

 What's Happening To Them Now?

The majority of Tarsier species are now endangered or threatened, and some are designated critically endangered. Threats include habitat destruction and fragmentation, hunting, agricultural pollutants and human disturbance. Tarsiers are very shy animals that prefer to stay away from human contact. Tarsiers do not live well in captivity – they have specific feeding requirements which are difficult to meet and rarely successfully breed. Wild Tarsiers which are caught and kept in captivity only show around a 50% rate of survival and in many cases they die quickly of overstress by committing “suicide”.
                               

The Tarsius Project

Lead by a Czech zoologist, Dr. Milada Řeháková-Petrů from Decin Zoo(November 25, 2011) 

"I conducted a survey of all captive tarsier facilities on the main tourist route on Bohol Island and evaluated the condition in that the animals are kept and also behavior of the visitors and guides. The results were shocking. The tarsiers were kept in a very limited area, some animals were apparently sick or dying. The nocturnal tarsier were permanently stressed,” says Dr. Řeháková.

If the displayed tarsiers die, their numbers are replenished by tarsiers captured from the wild. Growing demand on numbers of tarsier kept in captivity increases the numbers of illegally caught tarsiers from the wild. The tarsiers are thus slowly disappearing from neighbouring forests. This is the reality. Or it was, until the Czech team started to focus on this issue.

The Czech zoologist presented the results of her survey to the Minister of the Environment Ramon Paje and also the Undersecretary for policy and planning Demetrio Ignacio, DENR officials, Bohol governor Edgar Chatto and other authorities and a meeting was held in December 2010 especially because of this issue. This all wouldn’t be possible without help and support of the Ambassador of the Czech Republic Dr. Josef Rychtar.

During this year, it became apparent that these efforts bear the first fruits. The authorities recognized the seriousness of the whole situation, thanks to the efforts of Czech colleagues. It was decided that all the tarsiers from the facilities along the main tourist road will be transferred to more suitable conditions. Recently, a new enclosure naturally planted was opened in Loboc. Tarsiers find more space and also less stress here. The most importantly, this step will hopefully also cause a decrease of newly poached tarsiers.

What I Think...

These articles are shockingly true. A few years ago, my family and I visited Bohol. Part of our tour was to visit tarsiers held in captivity. What we saw were tarsiers placed on a tree which was surrounded by a cage. These tarsiers were not in their natural habitat. What was worse, tourists were allowed to hold and interact with them. At that time, I was not aware that this was illegal and was harmful to them. If you ever plan to visit Bohol, please be aware of this. Do not patronize tarsier tours that you think are illegal. Let us do our share to help conserve our tarsier population.