Miguel+Barba+on+Green+Space

 Green Open Space and Code River Walk Development

It was last Tuesday, September 21, when I attended the seminar of Mr. Widodo Brontowiyono. Mr. Widodo came from Indonesia and talked about Green Open Space (GOS/RTH) and the rehabilitation/development of their river called the Code River. Mr. Widodo opened his speech enumerating various environment issues that we face nowadays. He talked about how population growth has been a problem in with regards to green open space. He stated that as the population increases, land that can be used for green open space or vegetation lessens. He also stated that two problems: population growth and urbanization, are the cause of land use change, problems with solid waste management, air pollution, surface water degradation and ground water degradation. Dr. Widodo discussed about Green Open Space. As understood, green open space the development of unused land or undeveloped lands and transforming it to lands or places with vegetation. The idea behind GOS is to plant and vegetate these lands so that it can help with the reduction of CO2 emissions. It is also aimed to beautify the surroundings with plants. Aside from reduction of CO2, GOS also benefits us by providing air circulation, micro climate, shading, oxygen, rain water interception, habitat, pollution absorption, and wind control. The second part of Mr. Widodo’s seminar was about the rehabilitation and development of the Code River. He showed us the state of the river and their plans of developing it. Code River is a lot like the rivers in metro manila where illegal settlers usually make their houses near the river. It is also where they dump their waste. The problem with these establishments is that they are very close to the river which is not according to the law that states that there must be a certain distance. What they are proposing is making housing building that will accommodate the residences near the river. The old houses will be demolished and it will be transformed into gardens. In this way, the river will look beautiful and water pollution will be lessened. The seminar was very informative and I wish that government officials can have this kind of seminars so that they can have ideas on how to beautify our nation especially Manila. This kinds of development will not just benefit the society but it will benefit the whole world by helping with the conservation of the environment. I can help contribute with the development of the surroundings in my community by joining organizations, but how can I use my IS skills to fully help the environment and the society? This is a question that will be answered as I go along with my studies. Hopefully, I may be able to propose an IS project that will help contribute to the development of our surrondings