Tuesday, August 21, 2007 Gov't told to invest in watershed management
LA TRINIDAD, Benguet -- The National Government must now heavily invest in watershed management rather than expensive and unreliable stopgap measures to combat the serious effects of the prolonged dry spell in the future.
Abraham Akilit, regional manager of the National Irrigation Authority (NIA), said the P600 million released by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for cloud-seeding operations to bring rain to areas affected by the dry spell must now be used to reinvigorate denuded watersheds in the country.
He pointed out the cloud seeding is a very expensive and not an effective way of addressing environmental woes.
The NIA regional office has spearheaded a comprehensive watershed management and rehabilitation program involving the denuded Mount Data National Park that covers a huge portion of Benguet and Mountain Province.
Initially, the agency was successful in mobilizing the 16 barangays along the Bayudan River, one of the critical areas in the watershed to plant at least 200,000 water-based and fruit-bearing trees to jumpstart the noble program.
Unfortunately, Akilit explained the lack of funds and support from higher authorities is a hindrance to the realization of the intention to reforest denuded mountains to ensure abundant water supply for domestic and irrigation purposes especially for the lowland areas even during droughts in the future.
He added that now that the recent rains brought about by the three typhoons have caused damages in agricultural crops in the lowlands, government must now refocus its attention on the comprehensive rehabilitation of watersheds in Cordillera and other parts of the country.
"Ironically, some NIA officials in Manila have been opposing the watershed management and rehabilitation program prepared by its Cordillera office because of the belief that it is not their mandate to pursue the program," he said.
Former NIA administrator Arturo Lomibao promised to provide P10 million as seed money for the watershed program but the release of funds was overtaken by events and due to the stiff opposition from some executives at the NIA national office who refuse to understand the importance of combining environmental protection and irrigation projects.
Despite the NIA national office's opposition to the watershed program, Akilit vowed not to give up their crusade for environmental protection and preservation even at a very slow pace and set an example for other regions to follow since Cordillera still remains as the primary source of water for the huge farms in Regions 1 and 2. (DS)
