DENR wants to turn fishponds into mangrove areas

TO help ease the effects of climate change, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is evaluating whether deserted and unused fishponds in some regions in the country could be converted into mangroves.

Environment Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo Loyzaga has signed DENR Memorandum Order (DMO) 2024-01 for the immediate assessment of Abandoned, Undeveloped, and Underutilized (AUU) areas for fishpond purposes, starting in Regions 5, 6, and 9.

Such initiative aims to bring back mangroves, which are considered as a type of biome pivotal in the defense against flooding and extreme weather events, and in enhancing climate actions. It involves the sharing of data between the DENR Offices and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources of the Department of Agriculture (DA-BFAR).

Dated February 26, 2024, the DMO, which covers fishpond areas released by the DENR to the DA-BFAR in the 1970s, is in accordance with Presidential Directive 2023-296 on the Review of Areas with Fishpond Lease Agreements (FLA) that are abandoned, unused, and underdeveloped.

The order seeks recommendations for administrative reversion—returning from DA-BFAR to the DENR the administrative control over AUU fishpond areas under Fishpond Lease Agreements—and biophysical reversion, which engages the process of putting back destroyed parts of the mangrove forest from fishpond to mangrove state by way of replanting, enrichment planting and assisted regeneration.

Suggestions will come from the National Technical Working Group (NTWG) under Special Order 2021-274 to be forwarded to the DENR Secretary.

Based on the DMO, the DENR Regional Offices of the three selected regions will enforce it via the DENR Regional Field Assessment Teams, comprised of personnel from their respective Conservation and Development Division, Survey and Mapping Division License, Patents and Deeds Division, Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (Penro) or Implementing Penro, and the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office.

They will collect vital informations such as topographic maps, fishpond maps, and mangrove maps from the Denr-national Mapping Resources Information Authority, Fishpond Suitability for Mangrove Rehabilitation, and Vulnerable Areas to Sea Level Rise; flooding maps from Denr-geospatial Database Office; and DA-BFAR data on issued FLAS that are active, cancelled, expired, terminated and AUU, among others.

The analysis will, likewise, constitute data consolidation, deskwork validations, and desktop mapping, where the teams will gather and harmonize maps and data and ascertain if FLAS adhered to the Presidential Decree (PD) 1067 or The Water Code of the Philippines and PD 1586, otherwise known as the Philippine Environmental Impact Statement System.

Furthermore, they will hold ground truthing and validation to assess the identified areas’ status and existing land use, including determining the area profile and biophysical status. They may ask assistance from the Philippine National Police and the concerned local government unit (LGU).

Upon validations, the teams will examine the gathered data, maps, and ground validation results to prepare the report to the Regional TWG (RTWG). They will administer consultations with concerned civil society organizations, academic institutions, and LGUS.

Per the findings, the RTWG will then recommend areas for administrative and biophysical reversion in accordance to a pre-identified set of criteria and endorse them to the National TWG, who will then review and submit to the Secretary for final approval.