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DENR okays groundwork for Cagayan de Oro River Basin master plan

Wednesday, 22 May 2013 00:00 |

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has given the go signal to begin the groundwork for an integrated master plan to rehabilitate the 137,418-hectare Cagayan de Oro River Basin in order to reduce the impact of natural disasters.

DENR Secretary Ramon J. P. Paje said the 15-year master plan would serve as an “indispensable planning tool” to guide the rehabilitation and development of one of the biggest watersheds in the country.

“We want to come up with a blueprint that is designed to save lives, properties and the environment,” Paje said. “We don’t want another disaster as damaging as ‘Sendong’ to happen again.”

In 2011, the Cagayan de Oro River failed to hold the huge amount of rainfall brought by tropical storm Sendong that eventually poured into low lying areas of the city and triggered deadly flashfloods.

Sendong left more than 1,200 people dead and destroyed P1.3 billion in agriculture and properties in Cagayan de Oro and nearby Iligan City.

The DENR has created a five-member team led by river basin management expert Dr. Diomedes Racelis of the Center for Environmental Studies and Management Inc. to draw up the master plan and ensure its completion by October next year.

The team was also tasked to conduct a series of public consultation to generate inputs for the long-term plan, especially on identifying the possible root causes of the flooding in the area.

“The study and the corresponding public consultations would help authorities undertake an integrated management of the river basin to better address problems such as flooding, soil erosion and pollution, which are caused by unsustainable land use and agricultural practices, improper waste disposal, and proliferation of informal settlers along riverbanks,” Paje pointed out.

He said the flooding in the area was further aggravated by heavier rainfall and other extreme weather events.

The Cagayan de Oro River Basin is one of the 18 major river basins in the country, straddling most parts of Cagayan de Oro City and Bukidnon province. It plays a central role in the economic and ecological viability of Northern Mindanao.

Paje earlier announced that a validation team had been formed to identify areas to be covered by the massive reforestation program in Cagayan de Oro City, as mandated by Republic Act (RA) No. 10452.

RA 10452, which was signed by President Benigno Aquino III last month, mandates the DENR to plant trees in 3,000 hectares of public land in the capital city of Misamis Oriental to protect its people and its environment from floods and landslides.

The reforestation program seeks to prevent a repeat of the disaster left by Sendong in Cagayan de Oro. Another severe flooding hit the city in January 2009.

According to Paje, the law complements the Aquino administration’s forest policies – the National Greening Program (NGP) and the total log ban – aimed at fighting the adverse effects of climate change. #

DENR to provide P55-M to fund coffee,bamboo plantations in military camps

Tuesday, 21 May 2013 15:55 |

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) will provide P55 million to the Department of National Defense (DND) to finance the establishment of coffee and bamboo plantations covering some 4,000 hectares of land inside two military camps.

This forms part of the agreement entered into by the DENR and three other government agencies comprising the Aquino administration’s enhanced National Convergence Initiative (NCI) – the Department of Agriculture (DA), the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) – with the DND for the implementation of the National Greening Program (NGP).

NCI is among the strategies of the present administration for poverty reduction by way of ensuring countryside development through the promotion of a framework of sustainable agriculture and rural progress.

“This signing is an excellent affirmation of NGP’s centrality to the core mandates of every key national agency like the DND,” said DENR Secretary Ramon J.P. Paje, one of the signatories to the agreement, during simple rites held at the DND Social Hall at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City last Monday.

Other signatories include Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, Agrarian Reform Secretary Virgilio de los Reyes, Agriculture Undersecretary Emerson Palad and Local Government Assistant Secretary Rolando Acosta.

The agreement, dubbed as “DA, DAR, DENR and DILG National Convergence Initiative in Partnership with DND,” formalizes the inclusion of the national defense department in the implementation of the Aquino government’s flagship reforestation program.

NGP seeks to grow 1.5 billion trees in 1.5 million hectares nationwide within a period of six years ending in 2016. It aims to address poverty reduction, food security, biodiversity conservation, and climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Under NCI-DND accord, the DENR will provide a seed fund of P5 million intended to support the coffee plantation pilot project covering 200 hectares in Camp Kibaritan in Bukidnon province. The DENR will also support the remaining 800 hectares that will comprise the 1,000-hectare coffee plantation.

The environment department will also release P50 million to the DND to fund the 3,000-hectare bamboo plantation project at Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija.

Among its other responsibilities, the DENR will provide necessary technical assistance to ensure the success of the project, conduct regular monitoring and evaluation, and jointly identify with the DND suitable areas for development under the NGP, including vulnerable and hazard-prone areas within military reservations.

For its part, the DND will establish in selected military reservations nurseries and plantation sites for the production of quality food crops, seedlings and planting of native tree species.

For military reservations that can be developed into agricultural land, DA shall be the lead agency to boost farmers’ income and reduce poverty in the rural sector.

To protect the environment, DENR has the jurisdiction and mandate on the conservation, management, development and proper use of the country’s environment and natural resources pursuant to Executive Order No. 192 and to select certain plant species that preserve the environment.

The DAR shall be the lead agency in providing central direction and coordination to the national agrarian reform program. #

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