Manila Date & Time: (UTC +8) - 8 October 2008, 7:00 AM
Los Angeles Date & Time: (UTC-7)- 7 October 2008, 4:00 PM
Venue: Global Distance Learning Center, G/F Asian Institute of Management Makati City
COLLAPSE: A Lecture on Sustainability by Professor Jared Diamond
A live videoconference from UCLA
Pulitzer prize winning author Dr. Jared Diamond delivered a lecture on sustainability at the Asian Institute of Management under the 81st edition of the Globalization Lecture Series last October 8.
In real-time video conference from the University of California – Los Angeles (UCLA) [October 7, 4:00 pm], the author of Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies (1997) and Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed (2005) explained the basis for the Philippines’ inclusion in the list of political and environmental hotspots and highlighted the fate of the country if the people failed to heed the warning signs.
Dr. Diamond, a professor of geography and environmental health sciences at UCLA, defined the reasons for optimism and pessimism in the Philippines. For the former, he noted that Filipinos should take comfort in the fact that the country has the highest literacy rate in Southeast Asia; a high quality education, professional training and work ethic to the point that the demand of other countries is overwhelming; and that despite the presence of political unrest, it is localized in a certain region. Apart from these advantages, the Philippines is endowed with natural advantages such as a wet climate, translating to frequent rainfall, thus rapid growth of trees; and not possessing much of precious minerals, which he called “the curse of natural resources” because as experienced by some countries, precious minerals make an economy heavily dependent on the mining industry for foreign income, making them less likely to invest in education, or worse, leading them to a state of political instability.
However, the Philippines has already appeared on several lists political and climate hotspots, including Dr. Diamond’s. He said that the Philippines’ main challenge is its geography. Situated in the tropics, agricultural productivity is less than of countries in the temperate zone because of quality of soil and the presence of pests and parasites all year round. Public health is also very much at risk with common tropical diseases such as malaria, yellow fever and dengue fever.
He identified four environmental problems that are particular to the Philippines: deforestation, overfishing, soil erosion (resulting from poor management and sustainability of forests), and lack of focus on biodiversity. Simply, we are doing everything too rapidly—harvesting, cutting down trees, populating, etc. And, these problems are all man-made.
We need to find a way to change mindsets, influence policy, and cooperate to avert this man-made “collapse” that Dr. Diamond is warning us, averred Dr. Neric Acosta, former congressman of Bukidnon and principal author of 1999 Clean Air, 2001 Ecology Solid Waste Management, and the 2004 Clean Water Acts. There are several factors that can lead to this collective response—good governance by moral leaders, advanced environmental governance, and having the business sector take a lead towards a “green” economy. Sustainability must be at the heart of development strategies.
In closing, Dr. Diamond reminded the audience not to get too overwhelmed by the disadvantages mentioned. After all, there are several models of effectively overcoming those challenges.
Rounding off the session, Dr. Federico Macaranas, executive director of the AIM Policy Center, said that “The world is collapsing because of individuals.” But at the same time, we cannot discount the fact that there are still some societies, signs of hope, that have acted on the environmental issues morally.
Recognizing its urgency, the issue of climate change became a major undertaking of the AIM Policy Center through its Globalization Lecture Series starting this year (2008), since the 74th lecture on “Climate Change and Conflict: Peace-building and Development Strategies” held last April at the Institute, and eventually sprung into a big conference, merged with the issues of food and energy security in the “Energy, Climate and Food Security Conference: Responding to Global Challenges through Regional Cooperation and Public-Private Partnership” held last August at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza.
This edition marks another continued effort in raising awareness on the issue on climate change to bring about policy recommendations, and adaptation and mitigation strategies.
* Fr. Benigno Beltran, SVD of the Divine Word Seminary and Consul-General Mary Jo Bernardo Aragon were present from LA with Dr. Diamond.
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