Report: At least 55T hectares in CV reforested by greening program

CEBU, Philippines - Since its inception three years ago, the National Greening Program of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources has reforested a total of 55,050.17 hectares in Central Visayas.

DENR-7 Executive Director Dr. Isabelo R. Montejo said the program’s goal is to plant one billion trees in one million hectares of forest lands nationwide.

 Based on a report submitted by the forest management services, as of August 22, DENR-7 registered a consolidated accomplishment of 5,737 hectares in 2011, with 11, 015.2 hectares in 2012, and around 33, 614.42 hectares in 2013 in Central Visayas.

 For 2014, DENR-7accomplished about 4,683.55 hectares as of August 22 and set to continue to achieve a target of 17, 946 hectares on or before November 30 this year.

 In a three-year period, Cebu province registered the highest with around 24, 796.82 hectares; Bohol with 9,696.86 hectares; Negros Oriental with 18,488 hectares and Siquijor province with 773 hectares.

 To produce the high demand of indigenous seedlings to be used in the planting, DENR-7 will be assisted by people’s organizations that have established a total of 111 seedling nurseries in the region.  The largest mechanized nursery located in Ayungon Negros Oriental is set to be completed this year.

 Targeted at greening some 1.5 million hectares of degraded forest lands, NGP will focus essentially at developing a sustainable forest resource base to accelerate the national greening campaign and rejuvenate rural economies in parts of the nation’s most chronically poor areas in the uplands, ultimately providing livelihood opportunities for some six million families in the upland areas across the country within six years, from 2011 to 2016.

 NGP also seeks to improve water quality in rivers and irrigation for farm lands, reduce the potential for flooding, soak up carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and lay the foundation for an expanded wood-products economy.

 President Benigno Aquino III issued an executive order 26 on February 24, 2011 establishing the NGP not only to reforest 1.5 million hectares of land but also to promote a sustained environmental awareness campaign in the face of the deleterious effects of climate change.

 The Philippines’ total land area of about 30 million hectares is legally classified as alienable and disposable land and forestland.  As of 2008, classified forestlands covered 15.05 million hectares or 50 percent; unclassified forestlands covered 0.755 million hectares or 3 percent; and alienable and disposable lands spanning 14.19 million hectares or 47 percent.

 Based on the 2001-2003 satellite imageries, the total forest cover of the Philippines is estimated at 7.168 million hectares or 24.27 percent of the country’s total land area.

 Of the total forest cover, open forest accounted for more than half at 4.031 million hectares.  The rest of the forest types contributed to the total as follows:  closed forest at 2.56 million hectares (35.71 percent), plantation forest at 329,746 hectares (4.60 percent), and mangrove natural forest at around 247,309 hectares (3.45 percent).

 There are approximately 8 million hectares of forestland that are unproductive, open, denuded or degraded.

 At an average of 30,000 hectares of reforestation accomplishment per year, it would take 280 years to reforest/rehabilitate the eight million hectares.  (FREEMAN)