Pacific.Scoop
Opinion – By Tupuola Terry Tavita in Apia

For every tree that is felled in the woods, less water is fetched in the village.  As acreages of rainforests are ravaged in the name of Progress and Development, the rivers and streams die a slow death.

And so too will the village.  Because not only do rainforests store and purify water, they nourish the soil, give us oxygen and also prevent soil erosion and land slides on steep terrain.

We destroy our rainforests today and we kill the tomorrow generations of this country, Samoa, by depriving them of water – the basic essential of life.

Us, armed with chainsaws and our palagi-introduced land deeds in hand, mowing down with our bulldozers the forests that for thousands of years sustained our forefathers, bleeding those who will come after us.

So as developers move in to clear vast tracts of some of the last remaining prime forests uphill from Apia, this country is at a watery crossways.  The Le Piu-Afiamalu-Malololelei water catchment areas feed the Fuluasou and Alaoa reservoirs that source water to 75 percent of Upolu households including the 30,000 residents of the greater Apia area.

Sadly, this needless destruction of our rainforests is all about money.  Sadder even, it’s cheap money in a cheap land grab exercise at throwaway price. Sadder still, primary and pristine rainforests are invaluable and can never be measured in monetary terms.  But what’s a few trees when there is money to be made right?

Wrong.

The ecosystem
A rainforest is not just trees. It is a complete ecological system.  A teeming life and water-producing biological diversity that took millions of years to evolve.

But there is very little public awareness of what our rainforests do for us. Environment issues rarely, if ever, make the front pages or television lead stories.

Most of us most of the time have become preoccupied with the “current”. Unlike past generations who lived with and alongside nature, modernity has developed a disconnect between us and our environment.

When it comes to environment issues, many of us tend to take on an ignorance-is-bliss attitude.  What you choose to not know, least understand, will not hurt you.  The reality is, our rainforests are as current as the water we drink, the food we eat and air we breathe.

Rainforest foliage absorbs an enormous amount of carbon, releasing oxygen into the air.  This in turn cools much of the country.

Rainforests play a critical role in local weather by contributing moisture to local humidity through transpiration – the process by which plants release water through their leaves.  It is estimated that rainforests create 50-80 percent of its own rainfall through this process.

That is why, despite a clear sunny day everywhere else in the country, rain falls in our forests.  Is it then no surprise that in recent years of increased deforestation we’ve received markedly less water, less frequent water and even less clean water in our dams and reservoirs?

Thirty years ago, the thought of bottling water and selling it was absurd, even comical.  Why, because there was ample water and ample clean water at our disposal. Now, bottled water is a multi-million tala industry in the country because the frequency and quality of water from our taps can no longer be trusted.

Our rainforests capture water, stores water and purifies water.  It also contributes to geological stability by preventing soil erosion, controls floods, protect mangroves, fisheries, terrestrial and marine life as well as a habitat for crucial pollinators-insects and bird life.  It is also a source for herbal medicine that is still in use in the villages today.

Rainforests also cool other parts of the country as well as influencing local weather. It has sustained millions of our people in the past and, if we put away the chainsaw today, will sustain millions more in the coming generations.

Ultimately, these things cannot ever be valued in dollar terms.  The rainforest is the heart and lungs of the land just as the water it sequesters is the life blood of the people.

It cannot be left at the whim of those looking to make a quick buck nor financially – besieged institutions looking to pay their debts.

Elsewhere, conservation groups are resorting to buying tracts of forest land to conserve what is vanishing fast.  International climate change programmes offer carbon credits and extensive conservation grants to countries that preserve their forests.

This is in response to the continued encroachment of farms (particular bio-fuel crops), logging and settlement into the forest areas. Countries like Angola, fearing the depletion of its rainforests in years to come from deep-pocketed logging companies, is now inviting “green bidders” for rights to some 40 million hectares of rainforests.

The development and promotion of ecotourism, a means to save the forests and make money for local communities, is reportedly a key part of bids.

Slash-burn culture
Our forefathers were never impulsive tree-hackers.  We never had a culture of slash-and-burn nor practised any form of unsustainable land clearing that deforests the land.

In fact, our ancestors had deep respect for the forest.  Elaborate ceremonies were carried out to appease the spirits of the forests before a tree was felled for canoe or house building.

The multi-faceted threats of climate change is reason enough to compel us to again re-emmerse ourselves, the way we think and act, in regards to our environment, particular the rainforests.

There is already focus-specific legislation that protects the environment, but perhaps, it is time government looked at a nationalising of key water catchment areas.

The churches and church leaders should take the lead in promoting the benefits of safeguarding our rainforests from the heights of the pulpits. Villages, particularly the matai, should be encouraged to adopt sustainable farming and planting practices, the needless cutting of trees and the replanting of tress in folia-denuded land.

Environment issues should be part of formal school and Sunday school learning curriculum so the next generation will have wider appreciation of the environment and protection of our rainforests.

The environment is the one inter-generational constant handed to us by our ancestors. We in turn are obligated to pass it on to the next, still intact.

Tupuola Terry Tavita is editor of the Samoan government newspaper Savali. This commentary is an editorial in the latest edition.