Presidential Adviser on Environment Neric Acosta. comelec.gov.ph photo
Malacañang announced Thursday plans to resurrect a multibillion-peso project to restore the rainforests of Bukidnon province and areas around Lanao Lake, the water source of Mindanao’s six rivers.
The greening of the watershed sites in Mindanao is a key long-term solution to protect the low-lying areas from landslides and flash floods similar to that spawned by Tropical Storm “Sendong” that devastated the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan last Friday, according to Presidential Adviser on Environment Neric Acosta.
Environment experts said the hazard from the storm, the world’s deadliest this year, was amplified because of soil erosion and deforestation of the mountains that surround the two cities, which are not normally in the path of cyclones battering the country annually.
The project is part of the P7-billion Integrated Natural Resources and Environmental Management (Inrem) program, which was supposed to be approved by the National Economic Development Authority’s Investment Coordination Committee this month.
The Inrem is a nationwide program conceived in 2007 to reforest upland communities. It failed to gain ground over the years due to lack of government funds and willpower to push the project, despite studies showing the need for it and the availability of cash from foreign partners, sources said.
Acosta said about P4 billion of the project, to be financed by a mix of loans from the Asian Development Bank and grants from various aid agencies, will be used to reforest the highlands of Bukidnon and Lanao Lake with hardy, indigenous tree species that have been cut down by loggers.
It would also provide livelihood to the indigenous peoples and restore the nutrients in the topsoil, which had been degraded by decades of logging.
“If you solve this, you would have easily solved a major chunk of Mindanao’s ecological challenges,” Acosta said in an interview.
Mountain forests not only mitigate soil erosion, it is also critical in maintaining water quality downstream.
Vanishing forests
The Philippines used to have one of the world’s lushest tropical forests. According to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), of the country’s total land area of 30 million hectares, around 53 percent is forest land.
Over the years, logging, mining and the encroachment of human settlements have reduced the country’s forest cover.
Based on the 2001-2003 satellite surveys, the country’s total forest cover is estimated at 7.168 million ha, or 24.27 percent of the total land area. The remaining 8 million ha are unproductive, open, denuded or degraded, the DENR said.
A forestry expert who was privy to the Inrem project since the beginning said Cabinet officials had questioned the project’s funding at several stages.
It also appeared that these officials could not understand the urgency of the project, the source said, noting that many of their questions were focused on local administration.
“This is already four to five years in the making,” the source said.
Acosta, who has been pushing for the project, lamented that the project was not approved this year, despite a ready ADB loan and a big-ticket grant from the French Development Agency.
“They are waiting for the government’s approval,” Acosta said.
Doubts about project
He said some Palace officials were wary of the loan component. Another official also suggested that the money be shared with other Mindanao provinces, Acosta said.
Acosta, who was a Bukidnon congressman, opposed sharing the funding with other areas.
“The soil of the rainforests of Bukidnon and Lanao Lake is very sensitive because all the nutrients in the top soil have been scraped by logging,” he explained.
These two watershed areas also feed the six major rivers of Mindanao, including Cagayan River and the Rio Grande. They also supply water to rivers that irrigate the rice lands of Mindanao.
Environment officials said the Inrem program would be an expensive missed opportunity if the government failed to act on it.
Acosta said the Philippines had wasted major reforestation programs in the past.
Failed $120-M project
One major program from 1988 through the late 1990s was also funded by the ADB with a $120-million loan. An ADB assessment said the project was ill-planned and many of the trees died because they were unsuitable to the land.
“Funds were allocated right across the country because of political considerations and were thus less effective than if they had been focused on areas with higher prospects of success and higher productivity,” the ADB said.
Archbishop Antonio Ledesma and civil society groups have asked President Benigno Aquino III to declare the Cagayan de Oro river basin as a protected watershed area to avoid a repeat of Friday’s devastation, according to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines news website.
The resolution blamed the destruction on the “irresponsible and wanton exploitation of our watershed forests, leading to river siltation which reduced the city’s capacity to hold enormous water load.”
The petitioners said Mr. Aquino should go beyond helping the victims and focus on the causes of the catastrophe “and make accountable the persons and entities that contributed to it.”
A multiagency task force created by the President will investigate, among many other things, why a community was established on Isla de Oro in Cagayan de Oro when it was known to be hazardous, according to presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda.
Many of the dead in the city came from Isla de Oro. Local authorities were blamed for the construction of shanties in the area, where returns have been banned by the President. With a report from Philip C. Tubeza and Norman Bordadora