BY: HAZEL F. GLORIA
CEBU CITY, March 18 (PIA) --- The
National Greening Program (NGP) in Central Visayas has increased to
15 percent, according to the Department of Environment and Natural
Resources (DENR) here.
Under NGP, forest cover in Region 7 improved
by 15%, said Clea Arceño, Chief of Forest Resources and
Conservation Division at DENR-7, during the Association of Government
Information Officers (AGIO) 7 Forum held at the PIA-7 Regional Office
today.
The increase in forest cover is attributed
to the massive government-led reforestationunder NGP and strong
community involvement, said Arceño.
“This represents an increase of 23,309
hectares from its 2010 baseline of 155,373 hectares, now totaling to 178,682
hectares as of December 31, 2013,” said Arceño
Forest cover is defined as natural and
man-made forests, including forests within wetlands and built-up areas, she
explained.
In a data released by the DENR 7’s
Forest Management Services (FMS) as of March 17, Cebu ‘s forest cover posted an
increase of 28.15 percent or equivalent to 50,299 hectares compared to 2010
baseline of 39,251 hectares; Bohol improved by 8.03 percent or 55,773 hectares
in contrast to 53,477 hectares.
Negros Oriental increased by 11.87 percent or
equivalent to 68,656 hectares compared to 2010’s 61,372 hectares while Siquijor
yielded 53.50 percent or 1,954 hectares, an increase of 681 hectares from its
baseline of 1,273 hectares.
Arceño said the improvement of forest
cover is also a result of the sustained reforestation efforts, regular
monitoring and enforcement with the people’s organization (POs) and local
government units (LGUs), creation of the regional anti-illegal logging task
force, and imposition of Executive Order 23 on the moratorium on the cutting
and harvesting of timber in the natural and residual forests.
“EO 23 has prohibited the DENR from
issuing and renewing logging contracts and tree cutting permits in all natural
and residual forests,“ she explained.
She also said that the natural and
residual forests refer to forests composed of indigenous trees that were not
planted by man.
In a related development, Region 7’s
NGP since its implementation in 2011 already covered a total of 42,604.25
hectares as of December 2013, with 2013 having the biggest area coverage of
25,852.23 hectares; and 11,015.26 and 5,736.76 hectares for 2012 and 2011,
respectively.
For next year, DENR 7 officials aims to reforest around
50,992 hectares of forest lands with the help of LGUs, POs, and other
stakeholders next year. (rmn/HFG/PIA-7/DENR-7)