Wednesday, August 6, 2008 [ philstar.com ]
Rains and winds brought by the hanging habagat (southwest monsoon) and amihan (northeast monsoon) in Boracay are considered a normal occurrence around July to August.
But a master diver on the resort island noted “wilder” waves hitting the beach this time, and thinks they could be due to global warming.
Mike Labatiao, a diver who has lived in Boracay for 15 years now, observed that the tides in Boracay were not as intense as they are today.
He even said that water level rise was not as much, as people still managed to walk on the shore despite the rains and winds between July and August.
According to Labatiao, this is the first time that during high tide, people can no longer walk along certain portions of the beach because water has risen and reached a bigger part of the shoreline.
“Maybe this is the (effect of) global warming na sinasabi sa studies sa pagtaas ng tubig that could affect islands,” he said.
Boracay’s shoreline, according to Labatiao, is supposed to be equal all throughout. Over the years, however, he noted lagoons and sand bars forming in certain areas near the shore, saying he thought fierce waves could have caused these “changes in the landscape.”
Labatiao also believes that the wilder waves could have made Boracay’s shoreline uneven, with the beaches in Stations 2 and 3 more elevated than in Station 1.
He also noted the formation of a “new beach” near Station 1.
Labatiao said when water rose by two meters before, people could still walk on six to eight meters of the shoreline. Nowadays, he observed that the waves have been gradually gobbling up a meter of the beach.
Labatiao also blamed the loss of coral reefs that serve as the island’s “barrier” against wild waves.
He recalled the plague of the coral-eating Crown of Thorns Starfish in 2000, affecting around 30 percent of corals, and the coral bleaching that hit areas surrounding the island 10 years ago.
Meanwhile, Boracay, the country’s premier tourist destination, is eyeing to “go green” by deploying electric cars possibly next year.
Socorro Ruchanie Gadon, who chairs the organizing committee of the Boracay Land Owners and Stakeholders Movement and vice president and general manager of Willy’s Beach Club Hotel, said their goal in using electric cars is to address air and noise pollution caused by tricycles plying the island.
Gadon said the Boracay stakeholders and the Malay municipal government have agreed to promote eco-friendly transport to preserve the environment.
In other green initiatives, Gadon said Willy’s Beach Club and a few other establishments in Boracay have started using solar panels.
Gadon said Willy’s Beach Club is now using four solar panels costing a total of P1.5 million for its hot and cold water.
“We have various programs for the environment, basically to help efforts against global warming. But sometimes the deterrent factor really is the lack of funds because sometimes the equipment, like this solar panel, is expensive,” she said.
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