In celebration of World Bamboo Day last September 18, The Philippine Mining Club presented a webinar/summit titled "Bamboo Economics and Initiatives to Re-Imagine Mining into Social Enterprises -- A Summit on Re-Imagining, Developing, and Sustaining Mining Communities in the Philippines with Bamboo."
The summit was a 5-hour online event that was made possible in partnership with the Department of Trade and Industry Philippines, Philippine Nickel Industry Association, Mines and Geosciences Bureau, Chamber of Mines of the Philippines, Kilusang 5K, and more.
This event emphasised the role of bamboo in land rehabilitation of mined-out areas, in providing livelihood for the host communities of mine sites, and in general, how mining companies fulfill their role in environmental protection as mandated by the government.
For the past years, the reputation of the mining industry in the Philippines has been tainted with accusations of being a "destroyer of nature". In the same way, the role of mining in providing economic growth and financial benefits for the country is often trivialized or unheard of by some people, which are often due to misinformation and fear-mongering promoted by anti-mining groups.
The purpose of this summit, just like all other events organized by The Philippine Mining Club, is to provide a platform for an informative, balanced and scientific discussion about the industry and its contributions to nation-building. The summit featured several speakers from the government sector, the academe, researchers, private sector, NGOs and more.
"Let us plant bamboo with the end in mind,” said Atty. Leo G. Dominguez, the flamboyant Masters of Ceremonies in the Philippine Mining Club events.
“Secretary Cimatu has mandated the mining industry to reinvent invent itself. The answer is by planting bamboo in their mined-out areas and even in the areas within their tenement but outside of their actual mine sites. What would this achieve? First it will help the DENR meet its commitment to plant 1 million hectares of bamboo for climate change mitigation... It will also create truly sustainable livelihoods for the mining communities even beyond the mine life. Why? Because bamboo is a fast-growing supergrass that you could keep growing and keep cutting, and for some species for up to 100 years. How will bamboo reinvent mining? Bamboo will provide the mining communities with an almost endless supply of material to create high-value products."
Atty. Dominguez is the CEO of OLLI Consulting Group, Inc. Even as early as June 2018, he and his colleagues have been actively promoting the Bamboo Initiative, an advocacy which he started with the support of other mining companies and groups.
"With funding from the Social Development and Management Program (SDMP) of the mining companies, which is currently 1.5% of their CapEx (capital expenditure) per annum, and with the support of the DTI (Dept. of Trade and Industry), the DENR (Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources), the DA (Dept. of Agriculture), the DOST (Department of Science and Technology), the mining community can receive the skills training to work with bamboo, obtain marketing information from the DTI for the high-value products that both the domestic and international markets are willing to buy, and obtain reliable planting materials, hopefully from the DA and DOST, plus the skills needed to propagate the bamboo optimally."
Atty. Domingues stated, "How will all these elements come together to making the mining industry an effective partner in growing the bamboo industry? It will do this by identifying what each party in the collaboration, that is the DTI, DENR, DA, DOST, plus the mining industry, what they need to specifically contribute to empowering the mining communities to become active and productive partners in drawing the bamboo industry. This is how bamboo can reinvent mining.”
Dr. Florentino O. Tesoro, Chairman of Bamboo Professionals Inc. and Rene Madarang, Executive Director, Philippine Bamboo Industry Development Council (PBIDC) discussed the role of PBIDC in the Bamboo Initiative.
"The Philippine Bamboo Industry Development Council aims to converge different government agencies and the private sector for the development of the bamboo industry. Currently, it operates through Executive Order 879 series of 2010."
The Philippine Bamboo Industry Development Roadmap's vision is to have "a progressive, dynamic, productive, and globally competitive bamboo industry with a sustainable resource base."
Other speakers in the summit include, Atty. Wilfredo G. Moncano, DENR/MGB Director; Dr. Henry A. Adornado, DENR-ERDB; Director, Dr. Rico J. Cabangon, DOST-FPRDI, OIC-Deputy Director; Dr. Orlex B. Yllano, Adventist University of the Philippines, Dept. of Biology, Chair and DOST-NRCP Member; Rica Janet Villanueva-Gadi and Architect Jed De Guzman of Bamboo Bootcamp; Atty. Dante Bravo and Isidro Alcantara, Jr. of the Philippine Nickel Industry Association, and Gerard H. Brimo of the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines.
For more information about the event and about Philippine Mining Club, please visit their website at https://www.philippineminingclub.com/.
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Photo credit: Top photo - Bamboo – by clarabsp via Pixabay - https://pixabay.com/photos/bamboo-green-plant-240321/
