THE growing population and its needs continue to be the biggest challenge facing protected area managers.
But Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) 7 Executive Director Isabelo Montejo said that relocating families out of protected areas is not possible.
He said that those who will be affected will likely oppose it. The cost of relocating entire settlements is also too high, he said.
“We cannot resettle communities. I don’t know of any success story,” he said in an interview on May 15.
Montejo cited the Central Cebu Protected Landscape (CCPL), a consolidation of three watershed reserves and two national parks, which are vital to the water supply of Metro Cebu.
Issues
He said that the human population of CCPL exceeds 100,000.
Human settlements inside watersheds and other protected areas contribute to issues like clearing of forests for agricultural land, contamination of water resources due to fertilizers and pesticides, and biodiversity loss.
Consolidated in 2007 under Republic Act 9486, CCPL covers a total area of about 29,000 hectares in the cities of Cebu, Talisay, Toledo and Danao, and in the municipalities of Minglanilla, Consolacion, Liloan, Compostela, and Balamban.
Montejo said that instead of relocation, DENR 7 promotes management zoning in protected areas and timberland.
He said that the establishment of management zones has to be done with the participation of local governments and communities.
Zones
Management zones are determined through forest land use planning with local government units (LGUs). The process aims to identify which areas will be designated strict protection zones—where human settlements and activities are not allowed—and multiple use zones, among others.
Montejo said that LGUs that have conducted forest land use planning with the help of DENR include the towns of Alcoy and Dalaguete and the cities of Toledo and Bogo. Danao City has also started the process.
He said that the forest land use plan should be part of the comprehensive land use and disaster risk reduction management plans of the LGUs.
“Management planning is difficult because of existing settlements and developments. So we will have to identify mitigating measures,” he said.
He said that this is why DENR 7 promotes activities that help farmers adopt sustainable farming practices and agri-forestry.
Partners
He said that DENR 7 has partnered with local communities in reforesting bald timberland areas through the Community Based Forest Management Agreement (CBFMA) and similar instruments.
“We designate an area for protection forest and another for plantation. There is no harvesting in protection forests but partners can harvest what they planted in plantation forests,” he said.
“In order for us to be effective in protection, we need to answer the needs of the people,” Montejo said.
In the southern town of Oslob, Cebu, the DENR 7 designated 200 hectares for timber and cacao plantations under the National Greening Program (NGP). Through a CBFMA, partner people’s organizations earn by planting trees and from the harvest of cacao and fruit trees.
Income
Timoteo Miras, president of the Tumalog Daanlungsod Cañang Upland Farmers Association (Tudalcufa), said the project improved the income of farmers who not only plant trees but also guard plantations against poachers.
A fire that wiped out part of the NGP site earlier this year raised the need for patrols and firefighting equipment. The farmers’ group acquired a pressure washer that can be used to douse forest fires.
Miras said that from the DENR project, the association was also able to purchase a truck that delivers farmers’ produce to the Carbon public market in Cebu City.