“Coastal Greenbelts” & “Village Greenfields” – Villagers’ Hope From Villagers’ Help

There coastal greenbelts, here village greenfields. How green is my valley? And yours? Science will show the way, but villagers must bring about the growths of greenfields – down here, up there and beyond. God helps those who help themselves!

Via a Facebook sharing, here comes the call from Jurgenne Primavera, internationally known as “Mother of Mangroves[1]” from the Philippines: “Marine Scientist Presses Creation Of ‘Coastal Greenbelts’ To Cushion Typhoon Impacts[2]” (Bong S Sarmiento, 24 Dec 2021, MindaNews, Mindanews.com).

According to Mr Sarmiento, Ms Jurgenne “has pushed anew the need to legislate the creation of ‘coastal greenbelts’ across the Philippines in the wake of the devastation (brought about) by typhoon ‘Odette’ (international name: ‘Rai’).” Many deaths and much destruction in the Visayas.

We have to be proactive. Ms Mangrove emphasizes “The need to legislate the creation of ‘coastal greenbelts’ across the Philippines.” Calling on our senators and congressmen! 1^st Climate Champion and now PH Congressman Joey Salceda, please lead the way in Congress!

In congruence, this journalist’s call, no less urgent: The need to legislate the cultivation of “village greenfields” in the valleys.

Those “village greenfields” (my idea, inspired by Ms Jurgenne), are nothing but the farms and fields already there but practicing, as they must be, regenerative agriculture (my new advocacy, since 2019; see my essay, “F.A.H. – Which Science Can Save The World Now From Climate Change?” 05 May 2019, RegINA, Queen Mother Earth, Blogspot.com). My advocacy of regenerative agriculture is only 2 years old? Better late than never!

With your crop, you generate the green; to regenerate in each village a “Village Greenfield” as I call it, each farm must practice “minimum tillage” – season after season, the less you cultivate the soil, the more it will become naturally richer in organic matter.

Ms Jurgenne says:

We have to move from disaster response to resilience, specifically coastal resilience… for a country yearly blighted by 20 storms, which make landfall where the sea meets the sand, meaning on the beach lining most of our 36,300-km long coastlines. So we need coastal greenbelts.

Who is speaking? Ms Jurgenne, who was named by TIME Magazine “Hero of the Environment” in 2008 for her science-based works in mangrove conservation. She says, “The coastal greenbelts were needed by the (Philippines) decades ago.”

The valley image above is my photograph taken 17 Sept 2010 with the Canon PowerShot A450 that my children gifted me on my birthday at 70. The red flowers tell me my heart must be bold for village greenfields.

As of today, even PH government responses to Odette destruction and deaths are inadequate. “We have to move from disaster response to resilience” – while we wait for legislative action, we must do what we can.

Simultaneously, if we practice the minimum requirement of regenerative agriculture, which is minimum tillage, in all those millions of hectares of farmlands in the Philippines, the great effect would be immediately felt in the villages – much, much cooler local weather.

Ah, seeing floral reds in our minds, we have to help ourselves!@517

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[1]https://stewards.globallandscapesforum.org/wetlands/1814/interview-with-jurgenne-primavera-the-mother-of-mangroves-in-the-philippines-and-a-time-hero-of-the-environment/

[2]https://www.mindanews.com/top-stories/2021/12/marine-scientist-presses-creation-of-coastal-greenbelts-to-cushion-typhoon-impacts/?fbclid=IwAR1jjkcNnhgMmRgMlQIn7x7aLlh6cJf8E-z3_mO0CFy18PTHzzigGbauAzU