SOME 50,000 hectares of denuded forest areas in the country
will be rehabilitated soon through the Department of Environment and Natural
Resources' plan to forge tree-planting agreements with local government units
nationwide.
The project, dubbed the "Planting Futures" program, will be
implemented by DENR's corporate arm, the Natural Resources Development Corp. (NRDC).
DENR Secretary Lito Atienza said the project will target the
establishment of industrial tree plantations in partnership with LGUs and
organized communities in various provinces. "We are encouraging the planting of
industrial trees, which yield hardwood, and the establishment of agro-forestry
projects to enhance the rehabilitation of the country's denuded forest areas and
to create more income-generating opportunities in the countryside," Atienza
said.
He said the project will give jobs to some 10,000 families in
each plantation area, enabling each family to earn at least P3,000.
NRDC president Ray Francis Alcoseba said negotiations are
ongoing with governors Ben Evardone and Aurora Cerilles of Eastern Samar and
Zamboanga del Sur, respectively, the first two of four provinces initially
targeted as plantation sites for this year. The two others lined up are Misamis
Oriental and Cebu.
Alcoseba said the agency has already signed a memorandum of
understanding with Datu Bayhon Ansihagan, head of the Higaonon Ancestral Domain
Tribal Council involving 4,235 hectares for the program in barangay Eureka ,
Gingoog City, Misamis Oriental. He said Planting Futures will commit the
participation of communities which shall provide the labor component of the
program and they will receive their corresponding share from the earnings.
"The earnings shall be set aside for the college education of
the children of the participating communities to be managed by a foundation
specifically established for the purpose," Alcoseba said.
The NDRC, through DENR, will in turn provide technical
assistance, source funds from financial institutions, support funds for nursery
operations, plantation establishment, protection and maintenance, and
harvesting.
The agency will provide support funds for the livelihood of
the participating communities and assist in the marketing of the agricultural
products and other cash crops that will be raised.
The LGUs on the other hand, will identify and provide specific areas within
their respective jurisdictions where the industrial tree plantations shall be
located, and identify organized communities which shall participate in the
program. The LGUs will also have to provide local funding source for the
provision of labor, and assist the NRDC in ensuring the effective implementation
of the project. - Job T. Realubit
