By: Stanley Palisada
It’s like a scene from an alien movie—bizarre, jagged coral stones—spread across hectares of shoreline. The surface of an uncharted planet from some distant star could look like this. In the stillness and drab, these coral formations mimic tombstones, perhaps marking tragedy in the island’s past. And despite the roaring waves from the south Pacific careening into shore, an eerie silence grips a traveler for what he sees around him is the poignant tale of the island country of Nauru.
But it was not always like this. Centuries ago, the island was the paradise that adventurers with their tall sea tales have spoken about. A small island against the emerald waters of the Pacific Ocean, Nauru’s shores are lined by palm trees on a ring of white sand beaches. Being marooned on the rich and beautiful paradise of Nauru is anything but unfortunate. Nauru’s bounties could sustain life and its inhabitants are a gentle people of Melanesian origins—a farming and seafaring tribe.
A passing explorer in the 1700’s once named it, Pleasant Island where climate was—pleasantly tropical. Bananas, mangoes and a host of other trees thrived in this 21-square kilometer Eden which is a sanctuary of some of the world’s most colorful birds.
These birds would bequeath on Nauru, a priceless gift that would see the country to its legendary rise and eventual doom. For millions of years the millions of birds that visited or lived on the island deposited Phosphate, an inorganic chemical which is mined to obtain Phosphorus. Phosphorus is essential in agriculture and industry. In the early 1900’s the mining of Phosphate began in the island. Profits from mining were split between Britain and Nauru’s colonizer, Germany. The islanders did not mind. They were gainfully employed in the mine sites.
Forests were leveled and mining thrived and generated profits beyond their wildest dreams. The lucrative mining in Nauru drew envy. Australia invaded the island in 1914 and two years later, the League of Nations gave Australia, Great Britain and New Zealand rights to divest Nauru’s mineral resources. Excavation and export of Phosphate continued for decades and by 1967 locals gained control over mining and declared their independence. In the next three decades Nauru had the highest per capita income of any Pacific nation.
The people did not have to work hard. There was even no need to pay taxes as mining and its fruits took care of everything. Nauru’s citizens enjoyed subsidies including free medical services and airlifts to Australia’s hospitals. Everything in the country is imported including food since they hardly grew their own. There was mining money to pay for everything.
Only when Nauru realized that Phosphate is not inexhaustible did it scramble to arrest a grim future that lay not too far ahead. A royalty trust was set up to invest gains from mining. Nauru even demanded its colonizers to pay about 90 million US Dollars in royalties. But these only provided a short economic reprieve for at the turn of the century Nauru’s financial woes worsened. Government failed to pay its debts and creditors are after them.
With the island’s Phosphates running out today, the people of Nauru stare out into their sea of coral tombstones and farther into uncertainty.
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Just northwest of Nauru lies the Philippines, whose government’s enthusiasm for mining is awe-inspiring despite scary stories from risen and fallen countries that have succumbed to mining.
As the Philippines is in mining revitalization mode, investors are assured that there shall be no resistance to their activities here as long jobs are generated and revenues gush in. Never mind if mining will shave off trees, level mountains, displace communities and pollute air or river at a time when the global is warming up.
At the peak of inconsistency our government claims it is in the forefront of the war against global warming and climate change, while on the other hand it is subservient to multinational mining companies that dangle $ 3 Billion gains from mining in the Philippines.
Senator Edgardo Angara who heads the Congressional Commission on Science and Technology Engineering said, that the country should still take advantage of mining investments as long as the environment is protected and social development in mining communities is prioritized.
But can this really be done? We have no track record in responsible mining nor sustainable development in this country. What we have are bald mountains, over mined regions, mining communities impoverished waiting for tragedy to bury them in the graveyards mining companies have dug up in advance.
In the era of climate change and given our country’s vulnerability to floods, typhoons, and landslides, the consequences of mining is guaranteed, death.
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We need 10 Million signatures to signify our resistance to mining in Palawan which is the country’s last ecological frontier. Tell your friends about it. Forms can be downloaded from website: www.no@mininginpalawan.com.
Signed forms may be sent via JRS (free of charge) to ABS CBN Foundation, Mother Ignacia Street, Diliman Quezon City.
No to mining in Palawan, or anywhere else in the Philippines! #30
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