FOREST
CONCERNS AND CULTURE
by
Antonio C. Antonio
December
17, 2013
Question: “I hope everyone agrees that forests are not
only trees. There are other biotic and abiotic beings that abound in
forests. When forests degrade, we
therefore mean the degradation not only of the biophysical condition but also
of people's culture, right? Others say though that forests degrade
because of people's culture. ahah ahah... Bakit kaya?” (Prof. Janet B.
Martires)
I definitely agree with the statement that forest degeneration affects
not only the biophysical make up of the forest but also the culture of
people. I also agree, but only in a very limited way, that the people’s
culture contributes to the degradation of the forest.
The upland dwellers treat the forest in a very spiritual way. Some
of them even regard the forest like a religion... sacred and with
reverence. Upland culture is closely associated with the forest mainly
because it provides the upland dwellers their comfort zone... being close to
nature as nature provides for them. The fact that they depend on the
forest for their daily subsistence makes it easy to understand their spiritual
and physical attachment to the forest. Their regard for the forest is,
however, oftentimes misunderstood by the lowlanders.
On the other hand, people who do not understand the upland culture of
“man and nature as one” will have less at stake and less to be concerned
about. Whether the forest is there or not would seemingly be of less
importance to them. In my previous report, I mentioned that greed,
indifference and ignorance are the intangible causes of deforestation. If
these characters could be considered part of the “culture” of impunity that man
has towards the forest, then I would no longer agree “in a very limited way”
that people’s culture contributes to the degradation of the forest. I’m
shifting paradigm to say that I also agree that forests degrade because of
people’s culture.
Just my little thoughts...
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