DENR to require report on greening program action

CEBU, Philippines - To ensure compliance, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources  will require mining firms and holders of an Environmental Compliance Certificate to submit a report on the survival rates of the seedlings they have planted in line with DENR’s National Greening Program.

DENR-7 Director Isabelo Montejo also required all provincial and city environment and natural resources offices to sign a covenant to achieve at least 85 percent survival rate of the 2011, 2012 and 2013 NGP plantations.

Alongside this, Montejo required all P/CENROs to submit a catch up plan to increase the rate of survival.

 Montejo, in a statement, emphasized the seriousness of the government in pursuing the NGP by employing the drone and geo-tagging technology to locate where exactly these planted trees since its implementation of the program in 2011.

  The survival rate of seedlings planted in 2011 and 2012 plantations in Region 7, Montejo said, is about 81.49 percent, gaining a number two spot in the country, based on validation conducted by the Forest Management Services.

 To discuss and deliberate certain issues and concerns related to the successful implementation of NGP in the Region, DENR-7 will create a Regional NGP Social Mobilization Committee.

NGP is a Climate Change mitigation strategy and a massive forest rehabilitation program of the present administration. Recently, DENR-7 held a two-day regional management conference aimed at assessing this year’s first quarter accomplishment of its programs and projects, particularly the NGP.

In a report submitted by DENR’s Planning and Management  Division for the first quarter of 2014, its programs and projects have reached a 100 percent mark.

The NGP is among DENR’s priority programs along with the cadastral survey and patent issuance, clean air and water, geohazards mapping and assessment, biodiversity, and enforcement of environmental laws.  (FREEMAN)