A concern that captured my attention recently as we observed World Oceans Day early this month is the issue on coastal hardening.
Reports indicated that about one-third of the sandy beaches in the world have already been hardened. Considering that ours is an archipelagic country and we, Negrenses, live on an island, I took particular interest on these stories that appeared on my social media wall.
Our Negros island must be part now of the statistical information on beach hardening which further said that more than 50,000 kms. of coastlines are estimates to be lost by the end of the century.
The Phys.org website attributes coastal gardening to the outcome when humans build structures on or near the edges of the ocean that what was once areas of marshes and could now be spaces for hotels, resorts or even casinos.
This means that once natural soft coastlines are being replaced by structures like, among others, bulkheads, revetments, rip-raps, ports and jetties.
Consequently, the reports continue, sea water biodiversity is affected as the number of creatures that live around the area is reduced, thereby triggering the takeover by invasive species. Such biodiversity decrease has been documented in many major centers around the world located near the sea.
One of the publicized incidents in recent years was the port development in Dumaguete City which was strongly opposed by Silliman University due to the project’s impact to marine biodiversity and the environment.
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The Bay of Bengal tops the list of beach-hardened areas with a rate of 84 percent. In my visit to the southern Indian city of Chennai, which faces Bengal Bay, I witnessed part of the development in the coasts which I just realized was a step toward the hardening of parts of the coastal fringes.
Developments in our island and region, including in southern Negros, which is getting a fair share of travel and tourism growth, obviously also bring disruptions in the environment, which pose adverse effects to the environment.
We trust that our planners and leaders can find more creative and pragmatic ways that will mitigate the impact on nature and the marine environment and reduce the price we have to pay for growth and development.
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Thank you to school paper advisers who shared with me the atmosphere and mood of the first day of classes on June 16.
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There is the sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number – living things both large and small. (Psalm 104:25) | NWI
