Biodiversity and Rice Climate Change, Museum of the Filipino People: Manila

Rice (Oryza sativa Linneaus) persists as the primary crop of Asia. One probable reason is its high productivity - which is essentially a type of grass - in this particular environment, although it is well distributed in the tropics across the world. Local terms for "eating" is synonymous to "eating rice", particularly in the south, southeastern and eastern regions of the continent. Many Asian communities have been assumed to have been founded on rice production, which maybe the probable foundations for their deep cultural traditions on rice. Similar regard and importance on rice fields has also been observed and practiced in the Philippines.

Rice Ecology of the Philippines

Rice Fields Birds

Habitat plays an important role for bird species. Rice field for instance provide a wide variety of food items (a variety of insects and invertebrates, frogs, small lizards, freshwater fish and others) which attracts a relatively diverse assemblage of birds particularly wetland species of both resident and migratory birds. These includes but not limited to Bitterns, Rails, Moorhen, Snipes, Doves and Kingfishers.

Golden Apple Snail

Native to Argentina, the golden kuhol was introduced to Asia as an alternative food source as it reproduces mush faster than the local apple snails. Unfortunately, it is also a voracious consumer of rice seedlings, and has since been considered an invasive pest in Asia. Causing economic loss in rice production, mechanical and cultural measures have been alternately used to control their manifestation of rice paddies. 

Locust basket, Rice Bird Swatter, Mouse Trap

Ritual of Rice Production. In spite of its high adaptability to various environments, rice production is a painstaking process requiring several months of specialized work that basically involve tilling the land, selection and sowing of the seeds, planting and transplanting of seedlings for more of wet rice varieties, crop care against weeds, pests and diseases during its growth stage, harvesting and storage for seeds and foods. 

All of these entails corresponding tools and energy in terms of human physical labor, and required religious rituals for some ethno-linguistic groups particularly those who cultivate dry rice. The insistence of groups to engage in this despite the difficulty of cultivation supports the idea that rice is a prestige food and highly desirable good in ritual exchange. 

Hibla ng Lahing Filipino (The Artistry of Philippine Textiles), Museum of the Filipino People: Manila

The Artistry of Philippine Textiles

Blouse

Blouse

Central Panay / Sulod Bisaya

Commercial cotton cloth and threads

This embroidered cotton blouse with floral, butterfly and geometric designs comes from the Sulod group inhabiting the mountains along the banks of Panay River between Mt. Sya and Mt. Baloy. Anthropologist, F. Landa Jocano, studied with them and recorded his work in the book Sulod Society: A study in the Kinship System and Social Organization of a Mountain People in Central Panay (1968). During his research, he also photographed and collected Sulod material culture, including this blouse. 

Vigan foot loom

Abaca and Cotton

Abaca: 

Abaca fibers are traditonally extracted from a cut trunk by separating the surface leaf sheaths using a sharp object or knife, and pulling them off the trunk by hand. The fibers are knotted to form a continuous thread that would be suitable for weaving. Lanot is the general term for abaca used by the Bisayan groups as well as Mindanao groups such as the Mandaya. The Manobo sometimes also use the term yanot. 

Cotton:

For the weaving, called hablon, the Hanunoo of Southern Mindoro cultivated cotton (Gossypium spp.), which they call burak. Seeds of the dried cotton are separated from the fibers, which are spun into threads by means of a manual spindle called burungan. Spun threads are dyed using the tayum plant (Indigofera tinctoray L.).

Natural Dyes in the Philippines

Sources of Fibers for Textile Production in the Philippines

Traditional Weaving Centers

Baybayin (Ancient and Traditional Scripts of the Philippines), Museum of the Filipino People: Manila

Ancient and Traditional Scripts of the Philippines

Prehistoric and pre-Hispanic evidences of Philippine script have been recovered from the archaeological record and from accidental finds. The National Museum has six in its collection, found in Laguna, Butuan, Batangas, Masbate and Manila. 

The Laguna Copper-Plate, Calatagan Pot and Butuan Paleograph were declared as National Cultural Treasures (NCT) in 2010 by the National Museum.

To foretell the destiny of a nation, it is necessary to open the book that tells of her past.

Laguna Copper Plate

The Laguna Copper Plate was discovered by a quarry company in the Lumbang River, Laguna in 1989 in an ancient grave site, where gold ornaments, stone tools, bronze images, coins, stone adzes, porcelains, potteries, jade and other artifacts were also found. 

Ten lines of characters cover one side of the plate, probably impressed or hammered, representing a script already rarely used by 900 A.D. (Postma 1991). Separate studies made by Antoon Postma, a Dutch researcher of the Mangyan ambahan for over 50 years and Dr. Johannes Gijsbuertus de Caparis, a Dutch paleographer, identify the main language as old Malay mixed with Sanskrit, old Javanese and old Tagalog terms.

Postma, translates the artifact's writing as Old Javanese script (Sanskrit Kawi) with Old Malay words (1991). It is about a case of partial debt payments in gold by a person of nobility, Namwran, to a Chief of Dewata representing the Chief of Mdang. The inscription was made as a document and witnessed by the leaders of Puliran (now Pulilan), Kasumuran, the leader of Pailah, Ganasakti and the leader of Bingwangan, Bisruta.   

Intramuros Pot Shard

The Intramuros Pot Shard is the only artifact with ancient inscription recovered systematically. This pottery shard was retrieved below the brick floor of the Iglesia de San Ignacio in Intramuros, Manila in 2009. Found associated with trade ware ceramics attributed to Ming Dynasty (15th-16th centuries A.D.), this artifact has an ancient inscription on its shoulder. 

Monreal Stones

The tablet (big stone) and stone (small stone) were found inside the compound of the Rizal Elementary School in Monreal, Ticao Island, Masbate and was brought to the National Museum in October 2011. The bigger stone (Monreal Stone 1) have both sides engraved with scripts. One side (Side A) has seven lines with 56 characters, while the other side (Side B) has 10 lines with 84 characters. The small stone (Monreal Stone 2) has 16 characters. 

The Monreal Stones are the first discovered stone artifacts with ancient inscription or baybayin. An article made my Dr. Ramon Guillermo (2013) is about transcription of the inscription that was collectively formed by an interdisciplinary group of "UP Ticao, Masbate Anthropological Project Team". This article is about the systematic study of the inscription on the Ticao Stones and suggestions that will lead to its possible translation. Also, included in the article are the problems regarding the issues on the authenticity of the stones. 

Philippine Biodiversity and the National Museum, Museum of the Filipino People: Manila

The biological diversity of the Philippines is extraordinary rich and includes the highest concentration of endemic species known in the world. Biodiversity scientists now consider the Philippines as a superpower of global biodiversity. Some of the process crucial to the evolution of the unique biodiversity of the Philippines are: i) the islands' complex geological history with long periods of isolation, ii) a dynamic sequence of fragmentation and coalescence of landmasses during the Pleistocene brought about by sea-level changes, iii) authochthonous diversification and speciation of ancestral species stocks within the archipelago, and iv) a biota that was derived from two distinct biogeographic regions of the planet.

Information amassed from biodiversity inventories in recent decades has tremendously enriched biodiversity knowledge in the Philippines, enhanced ongoing conversation efforts, and also provided the foci for identifying key biodiversity areas across the islands. Among the most astonishing results of field surveys undertaken by scientists was the persistent discovery of undescribed species, not only of poorly known or uncharismatic groups (such as earthworms, rats, bats, snakes, and lizards) but even of well studied groups (like birds, butterflies, and flowering plants) and relatively large and conspicuous species (such as parasitic plants of the genus Rafflesia, marine crustaceans, and flying foxes).

"The greatest service which can be rendered any country is to add a useful plane to its culture." Thomas Jefferson

Philippine Eagle

The Philippine Eagle: A symbol of pride and dignity of Filipinos.

The Philippine Eagle, Pithecophaga jefferyi is one of the world's rarest, tallest, powerful bird of prey and also one of the most threatened animal on earth. The first specimen was discovered in Paranas (Bonga), Samar by British explorer/naturalist JohnWhitehead in 1896. The Philippine Eagle was formerly known as the Monkey-eating Eagle because when it was discovered, it was observed to prey exclusively on monkeys. The description of its genus was derived from the Greek word, "pithecus" meaning "ape or monkey" and "phagus" meaning "eater of". Likewise, the species was named after John's father, Jeffery Whitehead, who funded most of his expeditions. 

The Philippine Eagle, after a recent comparison with other large eagles of the world probes to be the largest in size. It was declared the Nationa Bird of the Philippines in 1995 bu former President Fidel V. Ramos under proclamation 615 through the efforts of foreign environmental advocates and Filipino biologist. Prior to the Philippine Eagle, our former national bird was the "maya" which refers to a group of birds called munias. 

Spot-billed Pelican Pelicanus philippinensis

The only species of Pelican recorded in the Philippines. It breeds in the country despite the occurence of migratory populations. It is once considered common in Laguna de Bay and Candaba marsh as well as in the coast in Bulacan in the early 1900s. They are believed to be extinct in the Philippines with no documented records since 1940. 

Spot-billed Pelican is found in southern Euro-Asia east to China, south through Southeast Asia to Sumatra and the Philippines.

In the Philippines, the species is known to occur in Luzon: Bulacan, Tarlac, Pampanga, Laguna de Bay, Bicol, Pangasinan, Cagayan Valler in Isabela and in Mindanao; Lake Bulusan, Liguasan Marsh, Rio Grande and Gulf of Davao.

Sarus Crane Grus Antigone luzonica

The Sarus crane Grus antigone is the tallest flying bird in the world. Sarus cranes are found in two continents and are the only species of crane that breeds in India and Southeast Asia. It is once reported as abundant of the plains and marshes in Central Luzon at Candaba marsh and in the Cagayan River Valley in northern Luzon. Surveys made by the Bureau of Forest Developments in the '70s and '80s produced no records.

Sarus cranes are found in Northern India, Southwestern China, Southeast Asia, northern Australia and the Philippines. The specimen of Sarus crane represents the extinct Philippine subspecies Grus Antigone luzonica. Recent sightings of the species were in 1979 at Tabuk, Kalinga Apayao and in the 1960s in the municipalities of Jones Ilagan and Cauayan, all in Cagayan River Valley. 

Climate Change, Museum of the Filipino People: Manila

Climate is the prevailing weather condition in an area over many years. A climate in a particular area is called regional climate, while the average climate in the world is called global climate.

Global warming is the term used by scientists to illustrate the changing global climate, which as been increasing for many years. Climate change, on the other hand, is the global climate and the pattern of change that's happening in geological timescale. The global climate is changing due to the accumulation of greenhouse gases which traps the hear on earth causing a warming of the atmosphere.

Natural Process of Climate Change. The world's climate has seen hundreds of change up to the present. Our global climate is in a constant state of flux. Scientists unraveled clues from thousands of years ago that tells the earth's climate underwent changes before. 

Human-induced Global Warming. The current change in global climate is attributed by many to the industrialization of our society. The dawn of industrial revolution saw more burning of coal to power our daily needs. This industrialization which was driven by the burning of more fossil fuel released more Greenhouse gases which traps heat into the earth. 

Causes of Climate Change

Industrial Pollution: Industrial pollution can be attributed mainly to the burning of fossil fuel to power our industries. These fossil fuels release gases, such as carbon dioxide, that trap heat coming from the sun causing the earth to warm up. The industrial revolution from developed countries is all part of the historical contribution of heat trapping gasses in the atmosphere. The resulting effect is gradual increase of the global temperature which causes the global climate to change. 

Deforestation: Our forests act as a "carbon sink". This means that they absorb the excess carbon released into the atmosphere thereby regulating heat exchange. Our world is currently experiencing massive deforestation due to land conversion. This activity makes it difficult for our forest to regulate global temperature. 

Agriculture and Livestock: The agriculture industry is responsible for the most land conversion in any country. This industry also releases toxins to the environment from all the pesticide applications. Livestock are also responsible for contributing greenhouse gases by way of their wastes and the methane they release. 

Effects of Climate Change

Higher Temperatures: Due to the increasing greenhouse gases being emitted in the atmosphere, hear is trapped and can cause a chain reaction of changes around the world. This heating of the earth, more commonly known as global warming, can set off drastic effects to people.

Melting Glacial Icecaps: Glaciers are extensive ice and snow formations found all year long on land in many parts of the world especially the polar regions. Due to the warming of the earth these ice formations are melting at very alarming rates. 

Global Sea Level Rising: As global temperature rises, water expands and take up more space. The rising temperature also melts glaciers which adds up to the volume of water to the oceans. These processes can have drastic effects to people living in the coasts and in low-lying areas which will be prone to flooding. 

More Droughts: Prolonged periods of dryness due to the unavailability of moisture and water can cause tremendous negative impacts. As the global climate continue to rise, so will the prevalence of the longer and more extreme droughts which can strain the water supply where it is already in scarce reserve. 

Wilder and Unpredictable Weather: The ocean which absorbs heat from the sun is responsible for giving energy to hurricanes and storms. As more and more hear are being absorbed by the ocean from global warming, more and more intense and devastating weather disturbances were expected to occur. These will cause major damages to populated areas putting lives and livelihood in jeopardy. 

References:

A student's guide to Global Climate Change, United States Environmental Protection Agency

Climate Change: Basic Information

The Basics: A Brief Introduction to Climate Change