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Sufatubo
barangay chairman Romeo Ogong Sr. (2nd from right)
and his counterparts sign a co-management agreement
Wednesday for his barangay’s 152-hectare forest
protected zone. Looking on (standing, from right)are
Malapatan Mayor Alfonso Singcoy, Gov. Migs Dominguez
and Dashiel Indelible, co-director of the Upland Development
Programme. (Photo by SARANGANI INFORMATION OFFICE/ATS) |
Sarangani
villages co-manage forest zones
GLAN,
Sarangani – Three upland barangays have forged co-management
agreements to protect their forest zones covering a total
of 777 hectares.
Under
the agreement, the Barangay Forest Protected Zone shall
be managed by the parties because of its “critical
ecological functions that would affect the other sub-systems”
in the entire barangay.
The
parties are national and local environment offices, municipal
and barangay local government units (LGUs), Department of
Education, police, National Commission on Indigenous Peoples,
tribal community, the barangay forest protection and management
committee and forest occupants.
Governor
Migs Dominguez, who installed forest guards during a multi-sectoral
program in barangay Sufatubo Wednesday, told teachers to
educate pupils on forest protection early on.
Sufatubo
barangay chairman Romeo Ogong Sr. said the project runs
suitably with his barangay ordinance declaring protected
areas as wildlife sanctuary.
“Hunting
wildlife or even birds is strictly prohibited here,”
Ogong said.
Ogong said many of his constituents were willing to plant
trees. He had collected at least 5,000 seedlings but these
were not enough for the barangay’s 152-hectare forest
protected zone.
Ogong
asked the Department of Environment and Natural Resources
(DENR) to train his forest guards on seedling propagation
“so that we won’t ask seedlings from you all
the time.”
The
DENR has devolved its forest management functions to the
municipal and barangay LGUs. Among the devolved functions
were the identification, delineation and establishment of
protected forestlands within their territorial coverage.
The
barangay forest protection and management scheme was presented
to residents in the three barangays by the Upland Development
Programme (UDP) on October 11-13.
Barangay
Rio del Pilar received the same project for 554.9 hectares.
In Malapatan town, barangay Libi also committed to protect
70 hectares.
Dashiel
Indelible, UDP co-director, said barangay residents were
gathered to witness the signing of site management agreements,
presentation of memorandum-of-agreement and oath taking
of forest guards because they are stakeholders of the project.
“Improving agriculture alone is not enough,”
according to a UDP briefer. “Equally important is
the protection of the barangay forest resources and management
of forest production areas under a localized scheme.”
The
scheme addresses the destruction of the remaining forests
in the uplands caused by the expansion of inappropriate
farming and similar unsound practices in steep slopes.
UDP
has projects in all seven towns of Sarangani through the
Sustainable Upland Development (SUD) model. SUD ensures
management of the upland resource base and to improve the
living standards of the communities who derive most of their
income from upland farming.
UDP
is a special government project executed by the Department
of Agriculture and supported by a grant from the European
Union. (SARANGANI INFORMATION OFFICE)
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