Forest management showcases in Negros, Panay
THE government has been making efforts to improve forest management programs. In one initiative, it highlighted the lessons learned, good practices, innovations and success stories (LGIS) in implementing various foreign-assisted projects in Negros and Panay Island.
The recent hybrid forum dubbed, “Addressing Forest Degradation through Natural Resource Management: The Negros and Panay Islands Experience,” featured the successful implementation of the Forest and Climate Protection Project in Panay, Community-based Forest and Mangrove Management Project (CBFMMP) and the Forestland Management Project (FMP).
They involved foreign-assisted projects that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) implemented through its Foreign Assisted and Special Projects Service.
They are among efforts to protect and conserve the country’s rich biodiversity through forest management in partnership with various stakeholders in Negros and Panay islands.
Changing state of environment
IN his message, DENR Undersecretary for Policy, Planning, and International Affairs Jonas R. Leones said the state of the environment in the country is rapidly and constantly changing in an unprecedented scale.
“It continuously challenges our policies, questions what we already know, and even outpaces the country’s capacity to reverse the impaired biophysical and ecological systems,” he said.
Amid such difficulties, Leones said the forum comes at a very opportune time for the government to reflect and learn from actual experiences in implementing and managing projects.
‘From 20 to 300 projects’
“WE started with about 20 projects in the early 1980s and the office withstood the test of time. To date, we have managed to implement a total of more than 300 projects and still growing,” he said.
Leones said much work is required to improve the agency’s performance and stay relevant in fast-changing times.
“We must constantly enhance our tools and techniques to document, analyze and store this LGIS. Our continuous improvement is only possible with our partners and stakeholders. We need relentless support from our development partners, the private sector, other national government agencies, local government units and the civil society,” he pointed out.
Forest and climate project
THE Forest and Climate Protection Project on Panay that is funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment was implemented by the DENR in 23 local government units (LGUS) on Panay Island between 2010 and 2018.
It was reported that it has achieved its goal of protecting the globally significant biodiversity of the last large forest block of the Panay Mountain Range (PMR). Same with the sustainable and climate-friendly management of natural resources in the Central Panay Mountain Range (CPMR) by local communities in four provinces. The CPMR straddles the four provinces of Aklan, Antique, Capiz, and Iloilo.
Through the project, the activities—such as forest protection measures in forest land-use planning and its implementation, the establishment of environmental offices in LGUS, the recruitment of local forest guards, the creation of alternative sources of income through agroforestry, agriculture, use of biomass as an energy source—have contributed to a significant reduction in deforestation in the PMR and the conservation of biodiversity.
Forester Wilfredo P. Canto, OIC of Kabankalan City Environment and Natural Resources Office, said some of the notable milestones of the project include the establishment and maintenance of a total of 2,214 hectares of agroforestry, assisted natural regeneration and upland agriculture, declaration of critical habitats for biodiversity conservation in the towns of Leon, Sebaste, Tubungan and Libacao, and strengthened protection of the Central Panay Mountain Ranges.
More importantly, he said: “The harvest of abaca and income of partner people’s organizations have increased.”
Forest management
A 10-YEAR DENR-JAPAN International Cooperation Agency joint undertaking, the Forest Management Project aims to strengthen forestland management in three critical river basins by implementing collaborative and comprehensive Community-based Forest Management (CBFM) strategies.
The project aims to rehabilitate degraded forestlands in three critical river basins—the Upper Magat in Cagayan, Upper Pampanga, and Jalaur on Panay Island—and improve forest conservation and socio-economic conditions of affected communities, while contributing to disaster risk mitigation efforts in vulnerable areas.
The project also aims to strengthen forestland management through community-based management strategies through empowering people’s organizations, securing land tenure rights, enterprise development for food security and income, and development, conservation, protection, and sustainable use of forestland resources
The project began in 2012 and is now in its last and final year of implementation.
Project beneficiaries are people’s organizations and community-based groups in selected towns of Villaverde, Kayapa, Bambang, Ambaguio, Aritao, Santa Fe, Dupax del Norte, Dupax del Sur, Kasibu, Quezon, Diadi, Diffun, Carranglan, Pantabangan, Calinog, Lambunao, Janiuay, Aguinaldo, Mayoyao, Banaue, Lagawe, Kiangan, Hingyon, Hungduan and Asipulo, in the provinces of Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino, Nueva Ecija, Iloilo and Ifugao.
Notable milestones of the project include the preparation of 24 sub-watershed management plans, and the formation of 149 people’s organizations to strengthen and support their communities, and the establishment of 71,300 hectares of site development plantations within the 24 sub-watersheds.
Community-based forest, mangrove management
JOINTLY implemented by the DENR and the Land Bank of the Philippines, with the support of the German government between July 2008 and December 2016, the Community-based Forest and Mangrove Management Project (CBFMMP) contributed to the improvement of the environmental conditions and the reduction of poverty in Panay and Negros islands.
It also enabled the participating people’s organizations to manage forests and mangroves sustainably; adopted sustainably and productive upland farming systems; improved food security and living conditions, as well as improves access to the market.
It was implemented in the towns of Altavas, Libacao, Dumarao, Passi City, Carles, Anini-y, Valderrama, Sebaste, Kanbankalan City, Ilog and Candoni, in the provinces of Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Iloilo and Negros Occidental in Region 6, and in Bayawan City, Sta. Catalina, Bindoy, La Libertad in Negros Oriental in Region 7.
Adopting the CBFM approach, the project pioneered an innovative financing mechanism to encourage sustainable resource management through investment packages that dovetail livelihood/ infrastructure development measures with natural resources initiatives.
The Loan and Financing Contribution extended by Germany’s Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (Credit Institute for Reconstruction) was used to fund loans granted by the LBP to finance livelihood and rural infrastructure activities, in close cooperation with the DENR.
Forester Glenn L. Gases of the DENR Region VI said in his presentation that among the project’s notable milestones and project outcomes was the completion and approval of 12 Forest Land Use Plans (FLUPS) and the signing of 11 co-management agreements.
“The FLUPS enabled LGUS to identify sites for development activities in the upland and avoided land use conflicts and overlaps with other government projects,” he said.
More importantly, he said that through CBFMMP, permanent Municipal Environment and Natural Resource Offices were created in the municipalities of Valderrama in Antique, and Libacao in Aklan. The funding for the newly created Libacao Menro will start next year.
Learning organization
ACCORDING to Leones, the DENR aspires to become a learning organization that is skillful at generating, acquiring and transferring knowledge and modifying its approach to reflect new knowledge.
“This forum is a reflection of that aspiration. We want to capture the valuable knowledge from our successes and failures in a project cycle, learn from them and use them in future projects,” he said.
The environment official said the Foreign Assisted and Special Project Service exert conscious efforts to imbibe such learning culture, pointing out that the FASPS has undergone a series of rebranding and strategy designs to adapt new ideas and apply valuable learning from the past.