Napocor, PTFCF team up for watershed conservation

MANILA, Philippines — State-run National Power Corp. (Napocor) has partnered with the Philippine Tropical Forest Conservation Foundation (PTFCF) for watershed conservation and management.

Napocor officer-in-charge Donato Marcos signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with PTFCF executive director Jose Andres Canivel and board chair Mary Edwina Garchitorena for a collaboration on the conservation and sustainable management of some watershed reservations in the country.

“The MOU will document the collaboration of NPC and PTFCF in the formulation, preparation, and implementation of programs, plans, and projects in Lake-Lanao Agus River Watershed in Lanao del Sur, Pulangui Watershed in Bukidnon, and Angat Watershed in Bulacan,” Marcos said.

Under the partnership, both parties will also be exchanging knowledge, experience and other resources that will help each other implement a more efficient and effective services and programs.

“This partnership with NPC illuminates our way forward as we are now looking at [enhancing and maintaining] ecosystem services that the forests provide. We are not only looking at conservation per se but for the services that it provides for the people such as water and electricity,” Garchitorena said.

PTFCF is a non-profit organization that provides grants and technical assistance to projects that conserve forests and forest lands.

The organization focuses on growing forests on the enhancement of ecosystems that provide products and services, growing livelihood in communities, growing partnerships between and among civil society, government, and communities, and growing advocates to further propel the protection and conservation of Philippine forests.

Napocor’s watershed management mandate on the other hand is decreed by Republic Act 6395  or the Revised Charter of Napocor Executive Order 224 RA 9136 or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 (EPIRA).

As mandated by EPIRA, Napocor is tasked to also undertake watershed protection and rehabilitation functions to reservations that support power generation.