MOU to reforest Cebu signed

CEBU, Philippines — A memorandum of understanding was inked by the Cebu Provincial Government together with two other local government units and a private company for an ambitious reforestation project on the island.

The MOU was penned by Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia, Cebu City Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia, Talisay City Vice Mayor Richard Francis Aznar, and Sabin Aboitiz, chairman of the board of trustees of the Aboitiz Foundation, Inc., a social development arm of Aboitiz Group of Companies.

The MOU signing marks the start of the CarbonPH initiative that aims to rehabilitate the Central Cebu Protected Landscape (CCPL) and its surrounding areas with about 29,000 hectares of land through reforestation and watershed recovery efforts in the next 40 years.

The project is seen to make a huge impact on the continued environmental protection efforts amidst the effect of climate change.

The CCPL was established through Republic Act 9486 or the Central Cebu Protected Landscape Act of 2007 which established the Buhisan Watershed Forest Reserve, the Mananga Watershed Forest Reserve, the Sudlon National Park, the Central Cebu National Park, and the Kotkot-Lusaran Watershed Forest Reserve located in the cities of Cebu, Talisay, Toledo, and Danao and in the municipalities of Minglanilla, Consolacion, Liloan, Compostela, and Balamban in Cebu Province as one protected area and permanent component of the National Integrated Protected Areas System under the category or a protected landscape.

The signing of the said MOU was done during the Cebu Investment and Tourism Forum last Thursday and was witnessed by visitors from Russia.