EXCLAIMED Andre Untal, "It's in an alarming stage!"
Coming from the alarmed Provincial Environment Natural Resources Officer of the DENR, Negrenses have to take his words gravely.
Andre cited the factors for forest losses among the province's natural parks: forest and habitat degradation at a rate of at least 2,400 hectares a year, and an annual net total forest loss of 290 hectares due to unregulated extraction of forest resources, illegal cutting of trees, unregulated fuel wood collection, illegal hunting, and intensive conversion of agriculture use and settlements.
Intensive and extension conversions into farmlands mean primarily their transformation into sugarcane haciendas established on the ashes of primary dipterocarp forests. Sugarcane production grew under the expansionary policy of the Marcos regime. Even upland forestlands were converted into sugarcane monocultures.
In the last century, dumaans can still remember how they cleared lands of premium native species of forest trees such as dita (Alstonia scholarsis), salon (Agatis philippinensis), red lauan (Shorea negrosensis), white lauan (Shorea contorta), apitong (Dipterocarpus grandiflorus), gisok (Shorea guiso), and molave (Vitex parviflora).
Furthermore, the concentration of landownership and the prevailing poverty of the sugar regime drove the landless to encroach into the forests and secure means of livelihood.
But with the removal of the province's forest cover, Negros Occidental became vulnerable to natural disasters. The land use conversions have created aftershock after aftershocks written not just in the pages of history books but in current events of mudslides, droughts, and pest infestations of rats, armyworms and locusts.
With a combined area of about 120,000 hectares, the Bago watershed supplies water to more than 15,000 hectares of irrigated lands and several industries and commercial establishments in nine cities and seven municipalities in Negros Occidental.
Andre stressed that the province has only 12 percent forest cover left. Currently, the province's forest area is 110,000 hectares - with the bigger part in North Negros Forest at 84,000 hectares, and Mt. Kanlaon with 24,000 hectares. It has to be expanded by 15 to 20 percent in three-five years.
Still, I find Andre's 12 percent encouraging. There's hope after all. In 1989, I can remember that frightening FOUR percent forest cover left in the province, according to a Swedish satellite map. How many times have I emphasized that percentage in ecological trainings I conducted to various stakeholders?
In 2007, the province's forest cover rose to 40,445 up by 4,000 hectares from the previous 36,000 in 1992. According to then Penro chief Livino Duran, the figures constituted FIVE percent of the total land area of Negros Occidental. Now it's up to TWELVE. Wow, is all I can say.
So, I say hope springs eternal. Our forest cover is on the rebound. Congratulations to all of us who have been there through thick and thin in expanding our tropical rainforests.
(bqsanc@yahoo.com)