THE local and foreign experts and advocates met during the Third International River Summit to tackle on the critical condition of Northen Mindanao river basin held in Cagayan de Oro City on Thursday, November 24.
The Cagayan de Oro (CDO) river basin, covering 1,379 square kilometers of forest lands located in the city’s upland, Bukidnon and some parts of Iligan City, is in danger of producing another disaster as portions of it are already without trees that will hold water that would have prevented massive flooding.
Due to the dwindling forest cover in the region’s river basin and unless concrete actions are taken, environmentalists warn the city and its neighboring communities could again be devastated similar to Tropical Storm Sendong which devastated two of the major urban areas in Northern Mindanao in 2011.
“Sendong” brought floodwaters to Cagayan de Oro and Iligan City, killing thousands and damaging millions of pesos worth of properties.
Watershed Management Coalition President Raoul Geollegue said the present state of the upland areas in the region could led to another episode of killer floods.
The CDO river basin is one of the 18 major river basins in the country, eight of which are found in Mindanao.
The river basins in Mindanao are in: Cagayan de Oro, Tagoloan, Ranao (Agus), Mindanao, Agusan, Tagum-Libuganon, Davao, and Buayan-Malungong.
Geollegue said many areas in the river basin have already been barren that if pummeled with several inches of rain, it will result to catastrophe especially to people living in the downstream communities.
According to the data provided by the Cagayan de Oro River Basin Management Council, the forest cover inside the CDO river basin is “scanty, inadequate and in bad shape,” which is now 24 percent of the whole area. A healthy forest cover should ideally be above 40 percent.
Of the entire river basin expanse, 13.6 percent is a closed forest cover, 10.4 percent of open forest cover, and 76 percent is cultivated areas and grasslands.
The river basin’s drainage systems emanate from the headwaters nestled in the upper slopes of Mounts Kalatungan and Kitanglad that drain to the main stream of Cagayan de Oro river. Eight major river systems drain the eight “subwatershed” inside the river basin.
The council added improper cultivation land use practices across the slopes and foothills within the river basin will also contribute to the problem.
Geollegue said what the river basin needs is a massive reforestation in the denuded spots and ensure that the local government units and the local people play a vital role in this effort.
He said the National Government, through the environment department, must allocate adequate funds for the reforestation.
In his message during the summit attended by about 800 participants, Angeles City Mayor Edgardo Pamintuan, president of the League of Cities of the Philippines, underscored the importance of the country’s more than 400 river systems to the economic and social progress.
Cagayan de Oro City Mayor Oscar Moreno, who welcomed the delegates and event officials, said the tragedy brought by “Sendong” gave another meaning to the word “resiliency,” which he defined as “arising from a difficult situation, emerging stronger, building back better.”
Archbishop Antonio Ledesma, head of the archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro, said everybody should work together to engage in mitigation, adaptation and even in anticipation of future.
