Air Pollution in the Philippines

Ronald de Guzman
Air Pollution – Current State

• Air pollution is an environmental health risk around the world

with 92% of the world’s population exposed to air quality
levels that exceed WHO’s ambient air quality guidelines.
• Air pollutants such as sulfate, nitrates and black carbon,
found in both indoor and outdoor settings, are extremely
dangerous to people’s health.
• When the size of the particulate matter in the air is 2.5
micrometers (PM2.5) and below, it penetrates to a person’s
lungs and cardiovascular system.
Air Pollution – Current State

• Globally, over six million deaths are linked to indoor and

outdoor pollution due to non-communicable diseases
such as heart disease, stroke, lung cancer, and chronic
respiratory diseases every year.
• In the Philippines, about 1 in 4 deaths are attributed to air
pollution.
• People in urban areas are more exposed to dangerous
levels of air pollution than those in rural areas.
Air Pollution Safe Level

• According to WHO,the safe level for PM2.5 is 10

micrograms per cubic meter (μg/m3) of air in a year.
• In Manila, the annual average of these pollutants is at 17
μg/m3, 70 percent more than the recommended safe
level.
• This makes Manila, the heaviest polluted cities in the
country.
Sources of Air Pollution

• Stationary Sources – any building, structure, facility or

installation which emit or may emit air pollutant, and may
be defined generally as individual points of emission
• Mobile or area – includes vehicles of all types
Causes of Air Pollution

• 80 percent of air
pollution comes from
motor vehicles
• 20 percent comes
from stationary
sources, including
factory smoke stacks
and open burning
Vehicle emissions cause 80% of air pollution in Metro

• Last year, the Philippine automotive industry posted total

vehicle sales of 323,928 units which, according to the
DENR, is “the highest ever in cumulative local sales
surpassing the previous record from 2014 at 269,841.”
• Metro Manila counts almost 8 million vehicles and
growing, contributing to a staggering 80% of the total
cause of air pollution.
Total Registered Vehicles
Effects of Air Pollution
• Respiratory and cardiovascular diseases
• Chronic diseases
• Increased hospitalization
• Global warming and
• Climate change
• Low/inferior Agricultural Produce
• Poor Water Quality
• Poor Visibility – effect on safety on the road
Law & Regulations to Control Air Pollution
DENR Regulations

Implementation of Vehicle Emission

DENR Administrative Order No.
Limits for EURO 4/IV, and In-Use
2015-04
Vehicle Emission Standards

Revised Emission Standards for

Motor Vehicles Equipped with
DENR Administrative Order 2007-27
Compression-Ignition and Spark-
Ignition Engines
Policy on Compliance and Permitting
Memorandum Circular No. 2007-003 for Industrial Facilities Relating to Air
Quality

Designation of the Task Force Air

Quality as the Sole Body to receive
DENR Memorandum Circular No.
process and Approve/Disapprove
1998-20
Application for Certificate of
Conformity
Illegal logging and deforestation
Illegal logging and Deforestation

is one of the largest environmental problems of the modern age. It

causes huge carbon emissions, a loss of biodiversity, and destroys
sensitive ecosystems to a point beyond repair. Third world, poorer
countries such as the Philippines have huge issues with illegal
logging, as they lack the infrastructure, law enforcement, and
motivation to prevent it.
– Incredibly, since 2015, the forest area in the Philippines
has been rising, mainly thanks to government initiatives
and increased law enforcement
– Over 25% of the country is covered by forest, and over
90% of this forest is owned by the government.
However, at the beginning of the 20th century, this
forest cover was at around 70%
– Unfortunately, only a fifth of these forests are protected
under environmental law
– An estimated 9.8 million hectares of forest was
destroyed due to illegal logging and deforestation
between 1934 and 1988
• Deforestation can have a negative impact on the
environment. The most dramatic impact is a loss of
habitat for millions of species. Eighty percent of
Earth’s land animals and plants live in forest, and many
cannot survive the deforestation that destroys their
homes.
• Deforestation also drives climate change. Forest soils
are moist, but without protection from sun-blocking
tree cover, they quickly dry out. Trees also help
perpetuate the water cycle by returning water vapor to
the atmosphere. Without trees to fill these roles, many
former forest lands can quickly become barren deserts.
• Removing trees deprives the forest of portions of its
canopy, which blocks the sun’s rays during the day, and
holds in heat at night. This disruption leads to more
extreme temperature swings that can be harmful to
plants and animals.
• Trees also play a critical role in absorbing the
greenhouse gases that fuel global warming. Fewer
forests means larger amounts of greenhouse gases
entering the atmosphere and increased speed and
severity of global warming.
What contributes to illegal logging in the Philippines

• The fact that illegal logging continues in the modern age can be
attributed to a number of factors. Firstly, it is a lack of law
enforcement which allows it to continue at the rate that it does.
Although the government of the Philippines has stepped up its fight
against illegal logging in the past few years, they haven’t been able
to stop it. Since the forest area is so huge, and most of it is relatively
inaccessible, authorities simply can’t police it all.
• Corruption of the authorities is also a huge problem. Since
poverty is so widespread throughout the Philippines, some
law enforcement officers take bribes from people engaging
in illegal activities – including illegal logging. This means
that not only do the police turn the other way even though
they know that the forests are being destroyed, but in a
way they ‘protect’ the loggers by pretending that the area
they are working in is clear.

https://greentumble.com/the-problem-of-illegal-logging-
in-philippines/
Causes of Illegal Logging

1. Rural Poverty
In the forest regions, there is always a rural community or
indigenous people living within the locality. These communities
or tribes are in most cases very poor and entirely depend on the
forest for their needs and survival. From food, shelter to fuel, it’s
all obtained from the forest. Consequently, they are put in a
situation where they source firewood for cooking and heating
from the forest that encourages the practice of constant illegal
logging. Most of their shelter construction materials are also
sourced from the forest which has led to repeated illegal cutting
down of trees to obtain timber. Further, since such villages
experience harsh economic situations and considering that the
forest is their only source of income, they often collude with
illegal loggers for monetary gains. Some may also illegally
obtain wood from the forest and sell them to lumber mills.
2. Cheaper products in black markets
The economics of the markets globally equally plays a role in
promoting illegal logging. The reason for this is that illegal timber
is normally cheaper compared to legal timber in black markets
thereby denying legal operators competitive advantage.
To a great extent, this is fueling the demand for illegal timber
which means more illegal logging. Importers of illegal logs and
the dependency of black wood in countries such as Japan, China,
the US, and EU makes the problem even worse.
3. Illegal charcoal, furniture and timber trade
There is an increasing dependency on charcoal, furniture and
timber across the world. Charcoal is used for heating and cooking
in most developing countries and those who engage in the trade
illegally cut down trees which are then used to make the charcoal.
High density wood is often preferred to make high quality
charcoal, which means the illegal cutting down of hard wood
trees.
The soaring demand for furniture and timber also propels the
practice of illegal logging, a multi-billion dollar industry
involving some of the top government officials and corporate
executives as well as big businesses owners who are out for
selfish monetary gains.
4. Weaknesses and laxity in forest governance
Forest governance in producer countries very poor and the laws in
place are lax at addressing illegal logging concerns. Limited
resources, weak institutions, and lax laws have contributed to
inadequate law enforcement and the lack of proper land use
management. Furthermore, many countries have unclear and poor
legal frameworks.
Some are even contradictory. These issues combined leave so
many gaps in forest management and governance and as such, it
makes it hard for the formal systems to strictly enforce laws
guarding against illegal logging. It creates room for businesses
and individuals to deliberately over-harvest or take advantage of
the legislation gaps.
Environmental Problems on Mining
Mining

• Is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological

materials from the earth.
Environmental Problem

• Soil Erosion
• Accumulation of Toxic Elements in the soils
Environmental Problems: Soil Erosion

• Soil Erosion is a process that involves the wearing away

of the topsoil. The process involves the loosening of the
soil particles, blowing or washing away of the soil
particles, and either ends up in the valley and faraway
lands or washed away to the oceans by rivers and
streams
Environmental Problems: Soil Erosion

• Mining may disturb the ground compaction. If the ground

compaction is disturb, the blending of top soil, sub soil,
and regolith may occur. As a result, denitrified infertile soil
may be formed.
What Causes Soil Erosion
• The main responsible for Soil Erosion is the method of
mining called Strip Mining.
• Strip Mining (Also known as open cast or surface
mining) – it involves scrapping away earth and rocks
from the earth to get coal buried near the surface
• By doing Strip Mining the process of Soil Erosion
increases because the mining company remove a long
strip of overlying soil and rocks. As a result the soil losses
its fertility.
What Causes Soil Erosion

• Not only Strip Mining that causes Soil Erosion, there are
other methods of mining that causes Soil Erosion like:
– Open-Pit Mining
– Mountaintop Removal
– Dredging
– Highwall Mining
Accumulation of Toxic Elements in the soils

• The toxic waste that are use in mining and the soil are
being mixed together. As a result, the soil are being
contaminated by toxic elements.
What Causes it

• The mixing of toxic elements in the soil it causes by so-

called Tailings.
• Tailings - are the materials left over after the process of
separating the valuable fraction from the uneconomic
fraction (gangue) of an ore.
– It is the ore waste of mines, and are typically a mud-like
material.
What Causes it

• Other cause of it are the toxic chemicals that are used in

the mining like:
– Cynanide, sulfuric acid, and solvents for separating minerals
from ore.
– Nitric acid.
– Heavy metals such as mercury, uranium, and lead
– Etc.
Water Pollution

In The Philippines
Water Supply Scarcity

• The Philippines, despite its abundant water supply, is at

the moment vulnerable to episodes of water scarcity. This
is caused by a combination of factors. Increasing
population and urbanization, lack of waste treatment
facilities and inefficient pollution control systems has
led to an increase in the pollution of our water sources
and the availability of clean water nationwide
Why is it scarce?

• Water pollution and water scarcity is increasingly at odds

with our yearly increasing amounts of water withdrawal
• Climate change along with incompentent and
environmental management have led to a rapid
deterioration of Philippine fresh water resources
• Pollution and the corresponding growth in consumption
has been shown by Asian Development Bank and
National Water Resources Board studies to be the top
factor that causes strain in the country's freshwater levels
In the future

• The problem is that water consumption, even if by chance

does not increase, the total amount of water available to
the people is decreasing.
• ADB projects that by 2025, water availability will be
marginal in most major cities.
On our Polluted Waters

• 67% of our country's rivers have been declared too

polluted for domestic use. While nearly 60% of our ground
water resources has been contaminated by industrial
pollutants.
• Much of the pollution comes from unregulated and
untreated effluents of manufacturing industries located
near or along our rivers. Most government agencies lack
the resources or the people to monitor pollution from the
thousands who dump their waste
Other Effects of Pollution

• Water pollution also affects sanitation and hygiene. Water

conditions and consequent hygiene practices account for
1/6th of the reported disease cases in our country. Major
cause of disease outbreaks is the common due to water
pollution.
• In turn this causes premature deaths and diseases. The
illnesses these cause cost Filipinos an estimated of 2.8
billion PHP in treatment costs. Premature deaths from the
diseases also cause the economy an estimated 3.9
billion PHP in lost income. According to the World Bank
Causes of Pollution

• Septic tanks and their poor maintenance, most cases only

maintained when there is an emergency
• Inavailability of sewerage systems and operational
wastewater treatments facilities throughout the country
presents opportunities for direct contact of human waste
with water sources
• Metal contamination from mining
Philippines as a Fishing Country

• According to the UN. The Philippines is one of major fish

producing countries worldwide. The Fishing industry
employs more than 1.5 million people nationwide.
• In 2012, the fishing industry contributed 1.8% (valued at
192 billion pesos) of the GDP of our country
The Effect of pollution on aquatic life

• Water bodies have the natural capacities to be used as

sinks for human and industrial wastes due to natural
ability to break them down and return them to their natural
environment. However the waters cannot handle our
waste output.
• Pollutants have impaired their ecological ability to sustain
aquatic life. The aquatic ecosystem has been left
unbalanced
On Fishing Again

• Fish is the cheapest source of protein in our country and

its consumption is high.
• Scarcity of fishing and fish products is inevitable, as there
is both a growth in demand due to a rising population and
also a decrease in supply due to pollution.
Other Fishing problems

• Fish resources are strained; we tend to maximize the

amount of fishing we can get which leads to overfishing.
We fish at a rate that is not sustainable.
• Fishers are also one of the poorest occupational groups in
the nation. The assistance given to them to alleviate their
poverty which increases fishing effort often will reduce
average catch rates and lower employment. The supply is
unable to meet the demand and more are cast into
poverty.