SUSTAINABLE forest ecosystem management program is seen to help preserve pine forests in Benguet.
The Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (Cenro) in Buguias is adopting sustainable forest ecosystem management measures with the aim to address the issue of deforestation within its area of responsibility.
The pine forests in the northern Benguet particularly municipalities of Atok, Bakun, Buguias, Kapangan, Kibungan, Mankayan and Tublay are threatened by the presence of growing population, increasing economic activities, coupled with the occurrences of forest fires, illegal logging activities and agricultural expansion.
With the new slogan “Building Upright Governance with Unity and Integrity in the Advocacy of Stewardship” (Buguias), CENR Officer Rabindranath Quilala vowed to provide the needed environmental steward leadership for the management, conservation and protection of the pine forests within their area of responsibility to assure their sustainability and stability.
Inspired and motivated by the thrust of the new administration, Quilala shared the acronym “DUTERTE” as a guiding principle which stands for “Developing utilization technology for the effective restoration and transformation of the environment”.
Among the plans of CENRO is to revive the pine oleoresin tapping program as an alternative forest-based industry for the indigenous peoples to prevent them from engaging to vegetable farming.
The Chinese tapping technology which was approved and endorsed by the Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau (ERDB) will be adopted. The tappers will first be trained extensively to prevent abuses committed in the past.
CENRO will also intensify the conduct of fuel reduction through pine needle collection for forest bioenergy power generation. The collected pine needles will serve as fuel for forest bioenergy generating plants that will produce electricity for the community.
This will also help reduce the acidity of the soil and makes it more viable for coffee, cacao and bamboo plantations.
More agro-forestry programs are also eyed to increase pine forests and enhance the socio-economic condition of the indigenous peoples or indigenous cultural communities.
CENRO Buguias is also working on possible pine forest eco-tourism projects with the help of the Benguet Provincial Tourism Council, local government units, indigenous people’s organizations to boost socio-economic development among communities.
Further, CENRO is pushing pine forestation program to be institutionalized through public-private partnerships to also mobilize the people from the communities within its jurisdiction.
The socio-economic benefits of sustainable pine forest ecosystem management program shall be diffused to every interested ecosystems developers and managers from various people’s organizations.
To ensure sustainability of the CENRO Buguias’ strategies, members of people’s organizations are proposed to be deputized as forest protection officers. They shall be on guard and on call to suppress forest and grass fires, land conversion and timber poaching in their respective areas.
A composite team will be created to oversee the monitoring and evaluation of the resin tapping, pine needle collection, agro-forestry, and reforestation and eco-tourism activities under the sustainable pine forest ecosystems management program. CENRO Buguias Release
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