DENR says illegal logging ‘hotspots’ down to 31

MANILA, Philippines - The implementation of the total log ban pursuant to Executive Order (EO)  23 has drastically reduced so-called illegal logging “hotspots” from 197 to 31, Environment Secretary Ramon Paje said yesterday.

EO 23, which President Aquino issued in February 2011, halted all logging operations in natural forests nationwide and stopped timber extraction of about 300 million board feet a year.

“We are making progress in expanding the country’s forest cover and protecting the remaining forests from degradation with our implementation of the logging ban and the National Greening Program,” Paje said.

Paje said the anti-illegal logging campaign of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) resulted in the confiscation of more than 19 million board feet of forest products, filing of 546 cases in courts and conviction of 72 persons.

The National Greening Program as provided under EO 26 seeks to plant some 1.5 billion trees covering about 1.5 million hectares from 2011 to 2016.

“So far, the DENR has planted 142.6 million seedlings on more than 232,000 hectares all over the country. The program also generated over 364,000 jobs,” Paje noted.

Paje said the government’s forest conservation programs are also starting to gain international recognition.

EO 23 and EO 26 recently received a perfect score of 100 percent in the 2012 Environmental Performance Index  (EPI), improving the Philippine ranking by eight notches to No. 42 in 2012 from No. 50 in 2010, among the 132 countries evaluated by four respected international institutions.

The Philippines outranked South Korea (43rd), Australia (48th), United States (49th), Singapore (52nd) and Israel (61st).

EPI, an evaluation of the sustainability of the environmental programs and policies of the countries concerned, was made by the Yale University, Columbia University, the World Economic Forum and the Joint Research Center of the European Commission.