In a time and context where environmental awareness is much more increased than it was a decade ago, we continue to be challenged with a minimal understanding of what the environment and natural resources can cope with in relation to our needs and wants.

The recent fishkill in Taal Lake, Batangas is now valued at PhP 76 million, and seven towns are under a state of calamity: Agoncillo, Laurel, San Nicolas, Cuenca, Alitagtag, and Santa Teresita. Anda and Bolinao in Pangasinan province, major producers of milkfish and the famed Bonoan bangus, are racking up losses to the tune of PhP 115 million.

There was also the attempt to smuggle 21,169 pieces of rare black corals, 163 endangered hawksbill and green turtles, 7,430 pieces of trumpet and helmet shells, and 196 kilograms of sea whips (a coral species that grows in clusters of long fingers). This entire cargo was worth around US$ 800,000, around PhP 35 million, and was declared as raw rubber.

The sheer number means that the illegal traders had to destroy at least 190 square kilometers of coral reef, almost five times the size of Metro Manila, according to Theresa Mundita Lim, Director of the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau.

While the economic losses are enormous, what staggers the mind and the heart is that we still retain no compunction and understanding of the environmental losses these all mean. We have pretty much lost our upland forests and there are massive efforts to restore and regenerate. Our marine resources are in a dismal state with about 5% of our corals in pristine condition. Again, there are countless groups and individuals working towards restoration. Our indigenous wildlife, both flora and fauna, are severely threatened. Our cultural resources, the more than 100 Indigenous Peoples who contribute to the richness of our heritage as a nation, are marginalized and excluded from mainstream Philippine society.

This can no longer be managed by just environmental advocacy and awareness campaigns. This is a business context, where traders ensure the continuous products that the market desires and wants, and not necessarily needs. Business speculation to accommodate future wants and desires of the market goads overproduction and excessive harvesting. And in the absence of the market or its limited presence, the market is created.

In this day and age of extreme poverty, both of people and of resources, the situation speaks to us more clearly than it did a decade ago, a generation ago. There is no other time to take action.