Bolinao villagers are fierce protectors of mangrove forests

BOLINAO, Pangasinan—Romula Caranza maintains a garden on the shores of Santiago Island in this northwestern town in Pangasinan province.

Daily, she painstakingly checks her plants, removing barnacles, oysters and other seashells attached to slim trunks and branches, clearing the area of seaweeds that can choke them and counting each green, newly sprouted leaves.

Caranza’s garden in Pilar village is actually a mangrove plantation that she helped establish as a member of Samahan ng Magsasaka at Mangingisda para sa Kalikasan. She also guards the place from fishermen whose gears run over and destroy the saplings.

Caranza has been with the mangrove growing project since 1997, said Jesem Gabatin, 50, president of Kaisahan ng mga Samahan Alay sa Kalikasan, a federation of 12 village-based fishermen’s groups.

The mangrove reforestation projects in Bolinao town were started in 1995 when Marine Environment and Resources Foundation Inc. and the local government implemented the community-based coastal resources management program.

In 2004, the United Nations Development Program gave the group a P2.5-million grant while the Philippine Tropical Forest Conservation Foundation implemented a P1.5-million project up to 2007.

The people’s organizations are reforesting Bolinao’s shores with assistance from the local government and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources’ (BFAR) Fishery Resources Management Division.

Global warming

A member is paid P2 for each mangrove seedling collected, Gabatin said. Planting it means another P2. After a year, each surviving mangrove yields P2 for the member.

“It’s a measly sum, really, but the members are planting because they know that they will benefit from what they planted years from now,” Gabatin said.

Through regular training conducted by scientists and environmentalists, the members have been exposed to the importance of mangroves, as fish and bird habitats, in preventing coastal erosion and helping mitigate global warming.

When the fishermen and residents started planting mangroves, they did not know that they were helping ease global warming, Gabatin said. The trees absorb carbon from the atmosphere.

“We only wanted to help bring back the fishery resources to our coastal areas, as these have been depleted by overfishing. But through the training, we learned that mangrove forests abate climate change,” he said.

La Union

The BFAR has other mangrove plantation projects in La Union province, specifically in Aringay town where sections of a coastal village had been reclaimed by the sea.

“The sea has eaten about half a kilometer of the shore already but the residents refuse to leave the village. Now they are active in planting mangroves to help stop erosion,” said Manuel Ugaban, Aringay agriculture officer.

Aside from preventing erosion, the mangrove areas will soon be used for the agency’s project to grow fish there, said Remely Lachica, chief of the BFAR Ilocos office’s planning, monitoring and evaluation division.

Bolinao’s shoreline was once thickly forested with mangroves but most of these were cleared to make way for fishponds and other developments.

The University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute (UPMSI) and Haribon Foundation helped residents see the value of reforesting the mangrove areas.

People’s projects

The people were organized in 1995 and the mangrove planting activities followed soon. With the help of Haribon and UPMSI, which maintains a marine laboratory in Bolinao, the people’s organizations were formed into a federation. Its officers were taught how to prepare project proposals and get funds to sustain the projects.

“We were able to replant 70 hectares of mangroves, which looked really healthy,” Gabatin said.

In 2009, the winds of Typhoon “Emong” almost decimated the saplings. “It was really a sad year for us. We saw our efforts go to naught,” Gabatin said.

But the local government helped the organizations get back on their feet. The BFAR, through its massive reforestation program, also helped in 2012.

Today, Bolinao residents are trying to rehabilitate at least 90 hectares of the town’s mangroves.