IN support of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ mining forest program, the Pantukan Gold and Copper Project (PGCP), a partnership of NADECOR and St. Augustine Gold and Copper Ltd., has begun a community-based reforestation effort that helps provide a sustainable livelihood to local families by engaging them in tree planting, plantation protection and maintenance.
“The project aims to help residents in Barangays Kingking, Magnaga, and Tagdanua to generate additional income through reforestation and improve vegetative cover of these areas”, said Pete Cancino, PGCP environmental manager, adding that the care and protection of the environment is one of the vital components of sustainable development.
The program involves reforestation of five hectares of unproductive public and private lands in the three barangays, including areas occupied by indigenous communities. The reforestation activities will be contracted out to interested families and community organizations for three years. PGCP will then pay the families and community organizations based on the survival rate of planted seedlings. Activities include seedling production, planting operation and forest protection and maintenance operation.
“This way, we are able to enlist the help of the people in taking care of the environment while at the same time making sure that they have the means – the financial and economical means – to take care of their families,” Cancino said.
Aside from the reforestation program, PGCP is also working with the DENR and the provincial and municipal governments of Compostela Valley and Pantukan on several other environmental projects, including the establishment of a mangrove reserve along the town’s estuaries and coastal areas and a clean-up campaign for the heavily silted Kingking river system.
