The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has recently renewed its greening partnership with the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) to rehabilitate some 40 hectares of degraded areas in six critical watersheds in the country.
DENR Secretary Ramon J. P. Paje, who signed the memorandum of agreement with LBP president and CEO Gilda Pico, expressed his gratitude to the bank’s continuing support to the National Greening Program (NGP), saying the effort would further boost the water-yield capacity of watersheds.
“The Landbank’s ‘Adopt-a-Watershed Program’ is a big boost to the NGP’s objective to improve the water-yield capacity of the country’s watersheds with an end view of enhancing agricultural productivity, and also to protect and improve the remaining forest cover as natural habitat for our wildlife,” Paje said.
The MOA calls for the rehabilitation of 40 hectares of open and degraded watershed areas in Bugallon, Pangasinan (10 hectares); San Jose del Monte, Bulacan (10 has.); Sapang Dako, Cebu City (5 has.); Sitio Canlusong in EB Magalona, Negros Occidental (5 has.); Paquibato District in Davao City (5 has.); and in Polomok, South Cotabato (5 has.). The rehabilitation effort will start next year up to 2015.
Paje explained that under the agreement, the LBP will sponsor the cost of the project’s implementation, estimated to cost around P200,000 per 10 hectares or at least around a total of P0.8 million throughout the three-year duration, from 2013-2015. It will also provide funds for the development of the nurseries and maintenance of the planted seedlings.
The DENR, on the other hand, will identify the area for plantation. It will also provide technical assistance, through its Community Environment and Natural Resources Offices (CENROs).
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