LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines – The nationwide Barangay Forestry Program (BFP) launched recently by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) here is tailor fit for the development track of Albay.
The program has a budget of P84 million for the province, or P180,000 per target barangay, good for 10,000 tree seedlings to be planted in a target area of 10,080 hectares up to 2016.
The BFP will generate earning opportunities at the barangay level, spur domestic economic activities, while increasing the province’s forest cover, enhancing the natural environment, helping promote Albay’s tourism industry, and further perking up the province’s already expanding local economy.
Albay and the DENR signed recently a memorandum of agreement (MOA) for the implementation of the BFP during a full council meeting of the Regional Development Council (RDC).
The MOA, signed by Albay Gov. Joey Salceda, Bicol RDC chairman, and DENR regional director Gilbert Gonzales, makes Albay the first province to launch the BFP.
The Albay BFP would target an initial 15 barangays in Polangui and 41 in Oas – for a total of 51 barangays out of the 521 barangays listed.
The BFP forms part of the government’s National Greening Program (NGP) launched in 2011. It aims to plant 1.5 billion tree seedlings in 1.5 million hectares of reforestation areas in the country.
Albay, in partnership with DENR, has pursued a true-to-form reforestation initiative that increased its forest cover by 88 percent in seven years from 26,298.71 in 2003 to 44, 891.16 in 2010.
Reforestation activities were conducted mostly around the province’s three famous mountains – Mount Mayon, Mount Masaraga and Mount Malinao.
For the past six years as governor, Salceda had celebrated important occasions including his birthday, with tree and mangrove planting.
As a result, Albay’s mangrove forests have quadrupled from 700 to 2,400 hectares from 2009 to 2013 in partnership with the Energy Development Corp. and APRI.
According to Salceda, Albay started the NGP immediately upon its launch in 2011, and had already planted 5,411 hectares by 2013 out of the 10,080 hectares target or an accomplishment of 53.68 percent.
The province aims to plant 2,115 hectares with 1,092,900 seedlings in 2014 and 2,709 hectares with 1,966 seedlings in 2015.
Salceda sees the BFP as a good strategy to support NGP.
Based on the signed MOA, the project starts with the establishment of a tree nursery in every barangay to produce seedlings of native and other suitable tree species for planting in the identified areas, including landscaping trees for barangay and municipal parks and along highways.
“Albay shares with the national government its priority goal for poverty reduction, food security, biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation and adaptation,” the MOA states in part.
The BFP MOA was signed at the height of a public debate on the issue of “roads versus trees” in Albay, most particularly after a Department of Public Works and Highways engineer had ordered the cutting of “tunnel trees” along the road in the first district for a road widening project.
Referring to the act as ‘massacre,’ Salceda promptly sought a moratorium on tree-cutting for purposes of road widening in the province.
Salceda is the co-chairman of the UN Green Climate Fund as representative for Southeast Asia and the developing countries.
The Albay governor has consistently opposed the conversion of public parks to malls, and the construction of concrete boulevards along the province’s shorelines.
He points out that “under RA 7160, among LGUs the provincial government is specifically and principally tasked with environmental protection.”