The country’s forest cover expanded by approximately 250,000 hectares with the successful implementation of the National Greening Program (NGP) this year.
In the final year of implementation of NGP, some 367,684,457 seedlings were planted, covering a total of 242,507 hectares. This is 98 percent of the year’s target of 247,683 hectares.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the lead implementing agency of the NGP, is still collating data from field offices of the DENR and other NGP partners.
A DENR accomplishment report as of October 2016 also said that a total of 555,794 jobs were generated through the NGP, employing a total of 90,912 individuals.
The NGP aims to plant 1.5 billion trees in 1.5 million hectares of open, degraded and denuded forest. From 2010 to 2015, the DENR has already expanded forest cover by 1.2 million hectares.
The NGP is a climate-change mitigation and adaptation strategy, anti-poverty and food-security program rolled into one. It also aims to provide support to the country’s wood industry by producing raw materials.
The NGP eats up the bulk of the DENR’s annual budget since its launching in 2010.
This year the DENR, through the Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau, also produced a total of 2.12 million seedlings from January to October, and 688 tons of mycorrhizal inoculants.
The DENR, through its Forest Management Bureau, is now gearing up for the implementation of the Enhanced-NGP (E-NGP). Under Environment Secretary Regina Paz L. Lopez’s watch, the DENR aims to engage in massive cultivation of bamboo and mangroves in coastal areas.
The E-NGP aims to sustain the country’s forest-expansion program to increase its carbon-absorption capacity, in line with its commitment to reduce carbon emission by 70 percent by 2030, as stated under its Intended Nationally Determined Contribution submission to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The NGP accomplishment report submitted by DENR Undersecretary for Policy and Planning Marlo Mendoza to Lopez highlights the agency’s performance this year.
During the year, the DENR was able to issue a total of 4,033 agricultural patents and 30,748 residential patents under Republic Act 10023, or the Residential Free Patents.
While the target for land disposition of agricultural patents of 3,322 was surpassed by 21 percent, the accomplishment for residential patent of 55,785 fell short by 45 percent.
The shortage in distributing residential free patents was attributed to the incomplete requirements of the applicant, difficulty of securing requirements such as zoning certification, area limitation, policy of one lot per applicant and slow processing in the Provincial Environment and Natural Resource Offices due to lack of staff that will verify and assist in the transmittal of the patents.
Meanwhile, for Protected Area and Biodiversity Conservation, the DENR approved a total of 817 Protected Area Management Board resolutions. A total of 56 ecotourism facilities were maintained as of October 2016, which represents 44 percent of the annual target.
The DENR also oversee the preparation of 15 ecotourism business plans. Under coastal and marine management, a total of 12,908.07 hectares of area habitat and resources were mapped and assessed during the period.
The DENR’s Mines and Geosciences Bureau, meanwhile, reported that a total of 179 local government units (LGUs) nationwide were subjected to vulnerability and risk assessment. On coastal geohazard assessment, a total of 164 cities were assessed.
The DENR also held workshops and consultations nationwide covering a total of 16,742 LGUs and intensified efforts to LGUs awareness on reducing risks and vulnerability, and preventing possible impacts of El Niño and La Niña.