The Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau (ERDB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) will launch this year more research and development (R&D) projects to enhance environmental management and natural-resource development.
ERDB Director Henry Adornado, chief of the DENR’s research and development arm, said these R&D initiatives will help the five other DENR bureaus—biodiversity management, environmental management, land management, forest management and the mines and geosciences—perform their respective mandates.
On top of pursuing R&D for clean air and clean water, studies lined up for 2018 will also focus on solid-waste management and the rehabilitation of mined-out areas.
“Aside from the usual implementation of unfinished studies and researchers, we will launch new studies, cross-cutting the concerns of the other DENR bureaus,” Adornado said.
The ERDB is mandated to conduct R&D and develop protocols for the other bureaus of the DENR.
Since assuming the top DENR post, Environment Secretary Roy A. Cimatu has vowed to enhance environmental protection and work for clean air and clean water, as well as address the challenges of solid-waste management and the controversial issues hounding the minerals development sector, particularly the rehabilitation of mines in the country.
Adornado said the DENR-ERDB’s activities, including the 35 ongoing studies, are in support of the thrusts and programs of the DENR chief.
He said the DENR-ERDB has already developed policy direction for 2018.
“For the policy direction, we are planning to develop and identify plant species for the rehabilitation of mined-out areas,” he said. “We also plan to develop phytoremediation and bioremediation strategies to remove pollutants in both soil and water.”
Adornado added the ERDB is continuously developing the protocols on tissue culture, particularly micro-propagation of indigenous species of trees, including bamboo, to produce disease-free and quality planting materials.
The official bared that the DENR is now faced with the challenge of producing enough planting materials for its massive reforestation program, with the Forest Management Bureau (FMB) being the lead implementing agency of the Enhanced-National Greening Program (E-NGP).
“We now lack planting materials, that is why we are looking at tissue culture for mass propagation for the National Greening Program,” he said.
The DENR-FMB, led by Director Nonito Tamayo, earlier told the BusinessMirror that this year’s E-NGP target is being cut down drastically because of the almost P2-billion budget slash of the DENR that will be charged against the program.
From the original 229,000-hectare target, the DENR is looking at covering only 125,000 hectares of open, degraded and denuded forest.
The bulk of the DENR’s budget in the last six years goes to the massive reforestation program under NGP, which seeks to expand the country’s forest cover by 1.5 million hectares.
From 2010 to 2016, over P25 billion was spent by the government, in effect, generating green jobs in upland areas, while increasing the country’s forest cover by 1.5 million hectares.
Despite the downsizing of the E-NGP target this year, there is an expected shortage of planting materials, including bamboo, as the agency plans to establish more plantations of the giant grass species to boost the income of upland farmers throughout the country.
Meanwhile, Adornado said the vulnerability assessment of all critical watersheds nationwide will be pursued this year.
Almost half, or 68, of the 143 critical watersheds in the country have already been characterized and vulnerability-assessed by the ERDB, he added.
To fast-track the vulnerability assessment of the remaining critical watersheds, Adornado said they will tap the DENR’s field offices.
“With the help of the DENR’s field offices, we will capacitate and train DENR personnel and regional offices, the Penro [Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office] and the Cenro [Community Environment and Natural Resources Office], so that they can conduct the vulnerability assessment of the remaining watersheds themselves,” he said.
Adornado added this will hasten the process and achieve the target to complete the vulnerability assessment the soonest time possible.
He noted that the United Nations had warned of a looming water crisis, with the Philippines experiencing severe water shortage in 15 years.
“Following our mandate, which is also to develop the protocols or strategies and disseminate the protocols, we will roll it out to the field for them to undertake the assessment,” he said.
The vulnerability assessment of watersheds is supposed to be within the mandate of the FMB, but because of their lack of technical capability, the ERDB takes over.
“Watershed is part of the forestland, which means they are owned by the state. We have upland communities, with these, they will be part of the protection and management of damaged critical watersheds,” Adornado added.
Among the R&D projects, he said, the determination of appropriate plants that can extract pollutants from the soil and water is the top priority. This, he added, will be very useful in the rehabilitation of mined-out areas, particularly those that are found to be contaminated with toxic chemicals, and in treating polluted water bodies.
The DENR is currently studying the appeal of more than two dozen mining companies whose operations have been recommended for closure or suspension because of their proximity to watersheds.
Adornado said another important project deals with the plastic problem.
“We are developing a technology to degrade plastics. This is for the problem on solid waste,” he said.
Image credits: Oceana Philippines