Flood-mitigation infrastructure built in the southern Philippines for more than $100 million by clearing native vegetation could exacerbate flood risk in the future, reports Mongabay’s Keith Anthony Fabro. In 2011, floods and landslides caused by Tropical Storm Washi, known locally as Sendong, killed more than 1,260 people in the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan. The disaster prompted the government to spend 8.5 billion pesos ($144 million) to build flood-mitigation infrastructure like dikes, flood walls and drainage inlets between 2019 and 2023. These are meant to protect 614 hectares (1,517 acres) of area from flooding caused by the overflowing Cagayan de Oro River. Experts and residents told Fabro that the structures have brought people a sense of security, but the construction has come at an environmental cost. Many trees were damaged, Mary Lynne Cananea, Cagayan de Oro’s environmental conservation and rehabilitation section chief, told Fabro. She added the project was handled by national agencies, and her office hadn’t received details on the species and number of trees that were cut. An analysis by Mongabay found that 26 hectares (65 acres) of vegetation were lost from January 2019 to December 2023 during the project’s construction, resulting in 40% tree cover reduction within a 100-meter (330-foot) radius of the flood-control structures. Experts told Mongabay this can undermine the project’s future flood mitigation potential. Residents along Macajalar Bay, where trees were cleared for a mile-long dike evacuation road, told Mongabay that the area had contained nipa palms that had once protected them from…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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