INQUIRER Global Nation

Will we wreck a unique 1.1-million-hectare eastern Mindanao “sponge” even before we fully grasp the vast potentials it offers?

The Agusan marsh “acts as a giant sponge,” noted 106 scientists meeting in Butuan City. It buffers “downstream towns and cities from devastating floods.” This wetland soaks up excess water, from a yearly rainfall of four meters, plus nine rivers that slice through Agusan del Sur and Norte, plus Compostela Valley.

Over 15 percent of the country’s freshwater is stored within the Agusan River Basin. The marsh has a 661,200-hectare catchment area. The system waters eastern Mindanao. A vast range of plants and animals teem in 59 lakes and environs. And a 111,540-hectare wildlife sanctuary straddles eight towns within the basin.

But neglect stunts this natural asset. Agustinian Recollect priests first described the marsh in 1622, recalls historian Gregorio Hontiveros. World War II secrecy blanketed its five minutes of fame: Loreto town hid Filipino guerrillas’ final relay transmitter to Allied headquarters in Australia.

The First Scientific Conference on the Marsh in 2007 seeks to bridge this knowledge gap. Few studies have been on marshland birds, specifically in swamp forests, participants noted. This benign neglect applies to marine life and ecology. “Marsh inventories are unreliable and species lists inaccurate,” the meeting noted. “Distribution patterns, population levels and conservation status are little known for most species.”

The Council of Aquatic and Marine Research and Development and Unesco (Jakarta) have now published the conference papers. Pew fellow Jurgenne Primavera edited this 123-page report.

Even names outline the vast promise and stark threats confronting this third largest Philippine river basin. Agusan comes from the word “Agasan,” meaning “where water flows,” the report says. This signified food here was abundant.

Ironically, a full third of preschool children today, in this melting pot of people from Luzon, the Visayas and other parts of Mindanao, are malnourished. This stems from poverty and inadequate nutrition education.

Population pressure is ratcheting in the basin area. The inflow of migrants, not high fertility, is the driver. Armed conflict in provinces, like Cotabato and Zamboanga, has driven people into eastern Mindanao. People increasingly move, meanwhile, into the floodplain and reserved areas.

Life expectancy in Agusan del Sur is 63 years and 65 for Del Norte, Philippine Human Development Report notes. In contrast, lifespan in Cebu is 72. Over 34 out of every 100 in Agusan del Sur lack potable water. In Bataan, only two make do with murky water.

In Tarlac, 55 percent of students graduate from high school. But Agusan del Sur lags at 32 and Del Norte at 49. Human poverty indices rank Del Norte 28 out of 77 provinces. Del Sur comes in at 66.

Yet, the marsh’s natural wealth is impressive. Of 576 Philippine species of birds, 126 are found there. Migratory birds, like the purple heron from Japan, China and the Siberian Rubythroat, use the marsh as a winter pit stop. It provides refuge for the rare Oriental Darter, Purple Swamp Hen, even the threatened Philippine hawk-eagle.

Some 17 species of migratory fish swim into the Agusan River. And the marsh itself has 64. There are 53 species of amphibians and reptiles. Two of the 18 species of frogs are new to science.

The “human footprint,” however, is increasingly heavy on the marsh. Trapping and the pet trade exert pressure. “Amphibians are now threatened,” the report notes. “Manobos hunt them for food and income.” Three of marsh crocodiles are now on the Red List of the World Conservation Union.

“Clear-cutting of forests in the marsh’s water catchment area, in the Diwata Range, has resulted in severe flooding,” the report notes. Sediment loads of rivers upstream, due to mining and deforestation, are shortening the lifespan of catch basins. Illegal loggers “use the marsh as staging area for floating of logs downstream.”

Twelve foreign exotic fish species were released into the marsh. Thai gouramies, brought into the Philippines in 1938 by Dr. Albert Herre as aquarium fish, were the first. Nile tilapia followed. Then came tank goby, North African catfish and fresh water guppy.

But the “present scourge” may have come from contents of an aquarium carelessly thrown into the Marsh: the janitor fish from South American’s Amazon River. It destroys fishing gear and banks. Worse, it has no natural predator. “Native species are in danger of extinction and ecosystems have been disrupted,” the report notes.

Mining wastes, including heavy metals, from Monkayo and Laak in Monkayo, Compostela Valley, “end up in the catchment basin of the marsh.” Of special concern is the highly toxic chemical mercury.

Rice paddies have been irrigated, using mercury-contaminated water from the Naboc River, which flows into the Agusan River. Mercury-tainted silt has been mixed into rice field soil.

A study of rice, fish and mussels diets here reveal that the level of mercury contamination is thrice the permissible level. Seven Mindanao State University stations tracked mercury tainting the mouth of Agusan River up to 10 kilometers away.

“I was seldom able to see an opportunity until it had ceased to be one,” Mark Twain once said. And the opportunities offered by the Agusan marsh threaten to vanish in a nation that prefers navel gazing instead of scientific hard work.