A new celebration that spans the globe will be quietly observed in the province on Wednesday, Aug. 27.
It is World Lake Day, an event being marked for the first time, an initiative of the United Nations, to raise awareness on the importance of lakes and encourage popular action to address challenges they face by acting toward their conservation, restoration and sustainable management.
The observance focuses on the theme, “Lakes: The Lifeblood of Our Planet”.
I believe that it will be quietly observed in the province due to the fact that our side of Negros Island, unlike the Oriental province, is not known as home to major lakes.
The Wikipedia list of Philippine lakes does not mention any that is located in Negros Occidental but has a number in the Oriental side. Foremost in the list of Negros lakes are Balinsasayao and Danao – known as the Twin Lakes, which have been declared as Natural Parks, along the upland areas of Valencia, Sibulan and San Jose towns.
Balinsasayao covers at least 76 has. and sits 874 meters above sea level while Danao has 28 has. and is located slightly on a higher elevation than Balinsasayao – at 898 masl.
Other Oriental lakes in the list, with 1 to 2-ha. area, are Kabalin-an, also in Sibulan, and Mabilog (which has the highest location at 1,605 masl) as well as Nailing and Yagumyum (1,599 and1,422 masl, respectively), both in Dauin town.
All in Negros Oriental are considered crater lakes. This type of lakes refer to a “body of water occupying a roughly circular, steep-sided volcanic crater or caldera.”
Iloilo has one lake mentioned in the list – Tinagong Dagat, a 4-ha. body of water located 915 masl in Lambunao.
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Explaining the significance of the observance, the United Nations pointed out that “lakes play a key role in maintaining biodiversity by offering habitat for countless species of fish, plants and wildlife”. They also “contribute to climate regulation by keeping the planet cool, absorbing the floodwater and storing carbon. They provide recreational and economic opportunities through tourism, fishing and other activities supporting local communities”, UN further said.
The celebration brings into public attention concerns, like overuse, pollution, climate change and rising water levels that need collective and urgent courses of action. To bring more attention to the observance, the United Nations is sharing the following facts and figures about lakes:
• Natural and artificial lakes contain more than 90% of the fresh water on the surface of the Earth.
• Up to 80% of global wastewater is estimated to enter water bodies untreated with adverse impacts on human and ecosystem health.
• Rain washes the nutrients in fertilizer into waterways and lakes which can lead to damaging algal blooms, which are predicted to increase by at least 20% by 2050.
• In half of the world’s countries, one or more types of freshwater ecosystems are degraded, including rivers, lakes and aquifers.
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My little ‘romance’ with lakes has been fueled and nurtured by the modest breadth of my travels through the years – from Taal to Lanao and Laguna de Bay, the biggest lakes and the country, as well as Naujan in Mindoro to Michigan winter wonderlands, where we had an ice fishing adventure, and, later, at post-card pretty Crystal Lake in a remote, charming village, and the Lake of the Woods near my university campus.
There’s also the massive Lake Michigan, which was transformed into a splendid spectacle of ice and snow on a December morning when I visited the city.
I remember, too, picturesque Inya, the biggest lake in Yangon, the former capital of Myanmar.
We may not have the abundance of lakes in the province but nothing stops us from acknowledging the importance not only of lakes but also of other bodies of water – from creeks, streams, rivers and the ocean – so we can work together for their preservation and conservation.
My ‘little romance’ resulted in many treasured photos and a number of verses, exalting the wonder and, even more, the Creator of lakes, rivers and seas.
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Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. (John 1:3) | NWI
