Issues such as land grabbing, quarrying, and fencing off areas important to the conservation overtake the efforts to save the watershed - which spans from the Sierra Madre in Rizal to the Pasig River. Yet, a wholesale effort to restore the area’s ecosystem is still needed. The DENR website has cited several issues and problems, including “improper land uses, management and allocation, rapid population growth, rapid urban development, and depleting water resources.”Įfforts for the reforestation of the watershed have been continuing throughout the years, with big companies pitching in with tree planting, fun runs to raise funds, and other similar activities. 2011 upgraded the status of the Marikina watershed and was declared a protected area, referred to as the Upper Marikina River Basin Protected Landscape. The onslaught of Typhoon Ondoy in 2009 has prompted more attention to the precarious geography of Marikina. RELATED: Gina Lopez on being the ex-environment secretary But given the events of the last week, it’s Lopez’s sounding the last alarm for a dire situation that needed to be fixed years ago. Lopez’s use of many exclamation points can be gleaned OA if you were just casually reading it in 2017. She said, “As long as there is quarrying there and the Marikina Watershed is denuded, the Pasig River water will be brown!! And it will become more and more shallow - and it will cause flooding in Metro Manila! It is imperative that the Marikina Watershed is reforested!!!!!” The photos were accompanied by a short plea for urgency regarding the importance of rehabilitating the area.
In a now-widely shared Facebook post in 2017, the late cabinet secretary shared photos of the denuded area near the Marikina Watershed. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines Life) - The former DENR secretary Gina Lopez warned us about flooding the magnitude of Typhoon Ulysses.