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Thursday, December 09, 2004
Vice Mayor wants evaluation of environment dep't
By Adrian Sedillo
VICE Mayor William Ablong said the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) must be evaluated in the face of the storm-caused devastations in Luzon that left hundreds of people dead.
Ablong aired his reaction as he called on the public to be more vigilant saying what happened in Luzon could also happen to Negros Oriental.
He said the evaluation must focus on what the environment agency has done to stop illegal logging, mining operations, and other destructive activities in the mountains.
Ablong said he does not believe DENR's pronouncements that the department has succeeded in its reforestation programs.
The vice mayor said everyone could see that the country's hills and mountains have remained denuded.
In Negros Oriental, he said, indicators confirm that its forests are mostly gone and based on studies, the province's forest cover is now less than ten percent or way down the limit of 54 percent to achieve an ecological balance.
Latest figures show that the forest cover of Negros Oriental is only five percent.
The vice mayor, an environmentalist and consultant to the coastal resource management program of the United States Assistance for International Development, said that out of the 86 major rivers in the province, only about eight are alive.
(December 9, 2004 issue)
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