I am proposing to build an Urban Forest Park (UFP) inside the
Diliman, Quezon City campus of the University of the Philippines. I am hoping
that if it becomes successful, it can become the showcase for my advocacy to
build new growth forests in all urban areas all over the Philippines.
It may sound ambitious, but do not worry because we have all the
time to make it happen. Probably, it will take at least 20 years to grow. The
proposed urban forest will be planted with native trees, and only native trees.
However, it could also be planted with vegetables and other high value crops,
in connection with my secondary goal of also building a food forest.
Yes, the primary goal is to help combat global warming, but the
secondary goal is to contribute to food security. Even if my goal is to build
urban forests, the showcase in Diliman could also become the prototype for
beach forests in coastal areas, and rain forests in mountain areas. The latter
could take hundreds of years to build, but again, we might still have the time
to build it, not unless the worst effects of climate change happen sooner than
later. I am hoping that the UFP will become a campus wide goal that should also
include the participation of students and alumni from all colleges and
organizations. Everyone could at least donate seeds and seedlings.
Hospital on wheels as a moment
In a country like
the Philippines where there are many towns that do not even have hospitals,
something must be done, not only to bring the hospital services closer to where
the people are, but to bring these services to where they really are, right
where they live and work. And that is precisely what Dr. Jim Sanchez had in
mind, when he founded Hospital on Wheels (HOW). But now, after many years of
visiting many remote and distant destinations, after providing many medical,
surgical, dental and visual services to thousands of people, Dr. Sanchez wants
to grow HOW, so that he could bring it to many more destinations, and so that
he and his teams could provide many more services to many more people.
The solution to the problem is social networking. Nowadays,
almost any form of human activity has something to do with social networking,
either directly or indirectly. And that is why I think that the best direction
for HOW to take, is to transform it into a mass movement, using the power of
social networking for mobilization. Don't you think it would be exciting for
netizens, especially the younger people, to get involved in looking for people
to help and heal? The satisfaction from helping and healing people is something
that money cannot buy. And now, HOW can make them experience that.
Funding for urban farming
Farming is nothing
new. Mankind has been farming since our departure from purely hunting and
gathering. Urban farming is nothing new either, except for the venue perhaps,
being places where there are human settlements. Rural farming will always be
there also, and there is nothing new about that either.
So, what is it that is new that we are looking for? In order not
to sound too ambitious, I will just put this in the form of a wish. I wish that
urban mayors will start providing funds for urban farming in all its forms,
including vertical farming and tree farming of course, and not to forget bamboo
farming as well.
And vertical farming should include not only fruits and
vegetables, but also fish, poultry and livestock. As part of our initiatives
for food security, we should go beyond the stage of treating urban farming as a
hobby, meaning that we should start treating it as a business. We should now
include urban farming outputs as part of our overall production targets. If we
can do this right, we can even include this in our export targets also.
Although urban farming should really be treated as a business, it
should also mean having enough food for home consumption, not only for the
urban farmer, but also for his or her neighbors. It could also address hunger
and malnutrition in the long run.
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