Environment and Disaster

2.

Sustainable Urban Living and Youth Dimension in Disaster Risk Reduction and Management

Climate Change is no longer an abstraction. It has become personal and real to every Kagayanon. Our horrific experience with Sendong has demonstrated how deadly lack of preparation, knowledge and management is in the face of our mighty river and a changing climate. Disaster risk reduction and management has been consistently surfaced by youth leaders showing the growing consciousness on its primary significance in our daily life today. Rightly so, studies show that the typhoon belt has now descended to Visayas from much-accustomed areas of southern Luzon[1]. This means that Northern Mindanao should brace for typhoons as the new normal.

In response, the government and private sector has invested huge resources not only in the hardware reconstruction efforts of the city but as well as the re-education campaigns on disaster. Though these permanent settlements have been constructed, many still complain that those sites continue to be unsafe[2]. Some do not have access to basic sustainable drinking water and electricity.

After the Sendong experience, flooding and landslides, as mentioned by the youth leaders as an effect of regular typhoons and heavy rains, have become an alarming regularity in several of their Barangays. They have noted clogged drainages and lack of vegetation as contributors. The leaders then traced the root causes of these as lack of implementation of the solid waste management law in part of some barangays, rapid urbanization and cases of logging (legal or illegal) in the uplands.

Realizing the immensity of the challenge, the youth leaders conceded that doing actions for our environment entails a long and slow process of educating our peers about the social and public value of proper waste management and environmental protection. They realized that as government work to fulfillits mandate in enforcing the people’s right to a healthy ecology, the organized youth should include in their advocacies a dimension on environmental stewardship.

YOUTH POLICY AGENDA

During the Oro Youth Leaders Convergence conducted last March 22, 2014, the following policy agenda was surfaced with regards to the environment:

a.     The city should increase green patches in the city center to encourage urban gardening and greening.

The rapid urbanization of the city has led youth leaders to wonder if they will inherit concrete and dust void of any reasonable amount of greeneries and fresh air. They raised the idea that the city should increase greeneries in existing parks. They also raised that idle public lands owned by the city or the barangays in the urban areas should be converted into temporary greeneries, mini parks or community gardens to encourage people to plant.

TERM	PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
	EXECUTIVE	LEGISLATIVE
Short	Divisoria Greening Initiative	None
Medium	Creation of Urban greening Plan	Ordinance requiring couples to plant a tree as a condition for issuance of marriage license
Long	Adopting green belts within the city area	Urban greening Ordinance

b.    The city should increase youth-led action and youth participation in disaster risk reduction and management and environmental protection.

The youth should not just be mere manpower when disaster strikes. They should be active players in its preparation and response. Noting the increasing consciousness on disaster management, the youth leaders raised the importance of their participation in making disaster plans and drills. They mentioned that this is not just the business of the adults but more importantly, it is a training and duty for the youth’s part. Flowing from this thought, the youth leaders urge the city to include youth participation in all stages of disaster planning from the city to the barangay and organize youth communities in the barangays that specialize in disaster management. They will be the one to act as influencers for other youths to be prepared and conscious about disasters. These youth communities should also take the lead in greening initiatives in the barangay level.

TERM	PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
	EXECUTIVE	LEGISLATIVE
Short	Incorporate youth in the Disaster Risk and Management Council and barangay level training	Resolution calling for barangay level training with youth groups
Medium	Improvement of warning infrastructure and strict implementation of building rules and reguations
Long	Institutionalization of youth presence in disaster training and decision making process

c.     The city should strictly implement the provisions of the Solid Waste Management Act and empower barangays to manage their own waste

The youth leaders pointed out that it is not enough to simply collect garbage on time. The city should invest in segregation, recycling and other modes of reducing solid waste such as waste-to-energy facilities. Most importantly, they cited the vital role of the barangay as a player in managing our solid waste. The Ecological Solid Waste Management Act or Republic Act 9003 orders all LGUs to decentralize garbage collection. The barangay, the smallest unit of government, is put in charge of teaching residents to segregate, collecting their trash and separating reusable trash from residual trash – the kind of trash that no one will buy or have any use for. The barangays should explore creative ways in improving garbage disposal and observe barangays who are leading in this field such as barangay Macasandig. In part of the youth, the barangay based youth organizations should also lead in advocating these methods.

TERM	PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
	EXECUTIVE	LEGISLATIVE
Short	Convene the Solid Waste Management Council with youth representative
Medium	Closure of the open dump site and opening of sanitary land fill	Appropriate Ordinance
Long	Biodegradable already collected in the barangay level	Appropriate Ordinance requiring major barangays to collect their biodegradables

ORO YOUTH DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL ACTION

Urban Greening Advocacy

The different youth organizations especially the out-of-school youth sector would adopt at least 2 idle land in the Poblacion area to convert it into an urban forest. This acts as a symbolic statement of the youth’s desire to strike a balance between urbanization and environmental protection. This would be a yearlong endeavor where youth from various sectors will personally take care and observe the progress of their garden. Seeing it grow rather than just having a one-day tree planting activity brings greater personal value. It teaches the youth on the basic of gardening, public good and stewardship.

Barangay Youth Advocacy on Solid Waste Management

The organized barangay-based youth organization will be trained in a one-day training of trainers to advocate for solid waste management in the barangay levels. The training is designed to educate the youth community leaders on the basic solid waste law, best practices, and community advocacy work. This is in partnership with the Solid Waste Management Council. Leaders of the various youth clusters and interns of the SPES Oro Youth will also be tapped as the leaders of this community-based movement.

Citywide youth forum on disaster preparedness and management

This one-shot forum will highlight the different initiatives and methods of the city and private sector on disaster preparedness. The youth disaster management communities will also be formed in this forum where they will be the core group which the barangay and the city disaster risk reduction and management council will mobilize and include in the planning processes. 

Eco-bag use advocacy 

By virtue of City Ordinance 12440-2012, business establishments are required to pass to the customers 1.00 for every use of cellophane. This is to encourage people to use eco-bags rather than plastic. In this regard, the youth leaders would like to spread information about the law and encourage the youth to use eco-bags rather than plastic.