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Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Davao Oriental environment council nixes logging resumption
By Antonio M. Ajero
PROVINCIAL Environment and Natural Resources Council of Davao Oriental headed by Governor Ma. Elena T. Palma declared in a resolution its strong opposition on the resumption of logging activities in the province.
The council noted that most of the hinterlands of Davao Oriental, which the logging operation affected, are "classified ancestral domains of the Indigenous People occupying the territory."
It said the effects of "forest degradation" and "environmental degradation" has not only resulted in damaging the precious flora and fauna endemic to the province.
But it "also exposed several barangays to possible destructive flooding and landslides" similar if not greater in magnitude as that in Ormoc, Leyte, Aurora, and Quezon province tragedies.
The council said the well-founded fears of the effects of indiscriminate cutting of trees are now manifested in the abnormal rise in water levels during heavy downpour experienced in the towns of Cateel, Baganga, and Caraga in recent years.
"The danger to life and property brought heretofore by those logging concessions far outweigh the economic gains to the residents" of the province, it said.
In crafting its resolution, the environment council also considered the resolutions earlier passed by Municipal Boards and tribes who oppose the resumption of the suspended timber license agreement of Matuguina Integrated Wood Products.
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (December 20, 2005 issue)
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