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ECOLOGY – SESSION II

Ecological Impact of Climate and Disaster in Real estate

Pollution
• Harmful amounts of substances
released into the environment.

Air quality index

National Emission Inventory

• Mobile: 65%
 E.g. Vehicles
• Stationary: 21%
 E.g. Powerplants & Factories
• Area: 14%
 E.g. Kaingin farming, Burning waste
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Philippine Clean Air Act of 1999

• R.A. 8749
• Air quality monitoring
• requires all owners to have their vehicles
certified accredited by LTO
• Smoking is prohibited:
 Inside a public enclosed spaces, building
and vehicles
 Enclosed area outside of one's private
residence
 Supported by EO 26
• Bantay Tambutso
 Anti-smoke belching campaign (DENR)
 DENR-EMB

VOLCANIC ERUPTION
 Active vs. Inactive Volcano’s
 Monitored by PHILVOCS
 Setting of danger zones
 Pyroclastic flow
 Dense, fast-moving flow of
solidified lava pieces, volcanic
ash, and hot gases

Eutrophication
Nutrients in the water (phosphate and nitrate feed algae),

Build up of algae & blocks sunlight

w/o Sunlight, Plants & Algae die

Bacteria digest dead plant

Low oxygen levels

Fish dies

Biological Magnification
• Chemical (e.g. Pesticide) are taken up by plants and animals either by:
1. Contaminated soil 2. Contaminated food
• Effects: Human Health and Species Reproduction
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Bioaccumulation
• Occurs within a trophic level
• in concentration of a substance in certain tissue of organisms bodies due to food absorption from food
and the environment.

Greenhouse gases
• with human activity.
• Gases that trap heat in the atmosphere
• Major long lived Greenhouse gases:
1. Carbon dioxide 3. Nitrous Oxide
2. Methane 4. CFC
Note: Carbon dioxide, Methane and Nitrous Oxide are from Fossil fuels burning

Acid Rain
• Released into the atmosphere by the
burning of fossil fuels.
• Rain that is contaminated by sulphuric,
nitric and other acids

Flooding
 Most common natural disaster
 40% of all disasters
 Mitigation: Pumping Station
 Rise in level of a body of water
until it overflows its natural or
artificial confines.
 Affected by climate change:
1. Sea level rise
2. Increased / Intensified rainfall
3. Increased intensified river flooding
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Watershed
 Channel rainfall to creeks, streams, and
rivers, and eventually to outflow points such
as reservoirs, bays, and the ocean.
 E.g. La Mesa Watershed Reservation

CANDABA Stilt Houses

EARTHQUAKE
 Magnitude – measures the energy released at the source
 Intensity – strength of shaking at a particular source.

3 Types of Fault Movements

• “Dip”  Up and down
• “Strike”  Horizontally or sideways
• “Oblique”  Dip & Strike combination

Valley Fault System (VFS) Atlas

• Handbook of large scale maps showing in detail areas traversed
by the Valley Fault System.
• Preparation: West Valley Fault can generate a large earthquake
with Magnitude: 7.2

Earthquake Myths:
• Triangle of Life
• Running outside
• Standing in the doorway
 Fall due to doorway.
• Ground “open” up and “swallow” people
 Not spontaneously opens when people comes in contact.
• Small earthquakes prevent larger earthquakes
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Earthquake Management:
Seek higher ground (especially coastal areas)
Hide under tables
Avoid elevators
Keep cool
Evacuate to open areas

STORM SURGE
• Offshore rise of water associated with a tropical cyclone.
• Affected: Near coastal areas
• Cause: High winds that push on the ocean surface.

TSUNAMI
• Series of sea waves commonly generated by under-the-sea
earthquakes and whose heights could be > 5 meters.
• Natural signs of Approaching Local Tsunami:
1) A felt earthquake.
2) Unusual sea level change: sudden sea water retreat
or rise.
3) Rumbling sound of approaching waves.

LANDSLIDES
– Collapse of a mass of earth or rock from a mountain.
– Cherry Hill Subdivision in Antipolo (1999)
– Landslide types:
1. Mudflow
2. Rock and Debris slides
3. Creep

SINKHOLES
• Vacuum or cavern beneath the ground or topsoil
• After earthquake and heavy rain

FAMINE
• Most extreme form of food shortage
 Lack of access of food
 Cause of Malnutrition or even death
 May precipitate from Natural disaster
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FOREST FIRE

FIRE TRIANGLE

• At risk: Forest fields, Mountainous Areas

• Cause: Lightning, Accident, Intentional

ADVANCEMENTS IN MAINTAINING ECOLOGICAL BALANCE

Biological indicators
• Species used to monitor the health of an ecosystem.
• E.g. Copepods (foods for many types of fishes)

Bioremediation
• Process that uses microorganism, fungi, green plants or
their enzymes to return the natural environment altered
by contaminants to its origination condition.

Ecological Footprint
• Measure of human demand (consumption & excretion) on Earth’s ecosystem.
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Conservation
• Management of earth’s resources.
• Aim: Restore and maintain the balance (Human requirements & other species.)
• Need for conservation
– Pressure on Wildlife.
– Maintaining the biodiversity
• Includes:
– Captive breeding grounds
 Resort in the conservation of species
– Re-introduction
 Species re-introduction from captive breeding into the wild
– Design of nature reserves
– Maintenance of conservation areas

Sustainability
• Continually evolving process
• Resolving conflicts
• 1992 Earth Summit
– Comprises global program of action for sustainable development

Sustainable Development
• Development that meets the need of the present without compromising the ability for future generations to
meet their own needs.
• Integrates:
1. Local, National & Global
2. Social, Economic & Environmental objectives.

Philippine Agenda 21
• National agenda for sustainable development
• Aims to integrate social, economic, ecological and environment sustainability.

Eco Industrial Parks

• Redefining designs of building industrial businesses in an attempt to:
1. Reduce pollution & waste 2. Manage resources efficiently

Timeline in Ecological consciousness and preservation

1950: Creation of World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
 specialized agency of the UN for Meteorology & related geophysical agency
1959:Antarctica Treaty
 Place is for scientific preserve use only.
1987: Montreal Protocol on Substances that deplete the ozone layer
 Phasing out CFC products
 Goal: Fully recovered ozone layer by 2050
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Project NOAH
• Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards.
• 600 automated rain gauges (ARG) and 400 water level monitoring stations (WLMS) all over the country