THE Cagayan de Oro River Basin Management Council (CDORBMC) recognized Monday, September 2, organizations championing environmental efforts in the upland communities and in the Cagayan de Oro river.
Some 23 organizations received commendation. Among them are five government agencies; seven businesses; five from the academe, religious sector, lumad sector and civil society organizations; and six other organizations that are involved in restoration efforts, watershed protection such as conducting tree growing activities.
Cagayan de Oro Archbishop Antonio Ledesma said over the years, protection for watershed areas have been neglected, which made the city and other areas vulnerable to calamities.
"We did not protect the watershed area of Cagayan de Oro river. Now we have to look at long term preparations for future calamities that might come if we do not act now," Ledesma said.
"Ipasabot nato sa publiko that this is really a common concern for everyone. We urged the common people in the use of water, to also set aside a fraction of that for the protection of watershed by the Payment for Ecological Services that is also still pending before the City Council," he added.
Ledesma said the payment for ecological services is a scheme the river basin council came up to "reward the environment" for providing people natural resources.
Hilly Ann Roa-Quiaoit, CDORBMC executive director, said the river basin covers 140,000 hectares of land while 45,000 hectares need restoration.
"This 45,00 that we need to restore is more than 1/3 of the water basin and these are very critical areas, very steep, no trees that can hold water, very barren," she added.
"If we don't do something upland and in the river basin, we will always have the fear of flooding like what happened in Sendong. We should not always be on the responsive side, we should be more forward-looking and proactive," she said.
The event Monday, September 2, called Greening Pinning, launched the existing restoration projects within the river basin and commended the environmental champions for their contribution to the environment.
The activity was in partnership with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature-Netherlands, Vitens Evides International, Wetlands International-Philippines, The Samdhana Institute, The Shield Project, among others.