The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has started looking for ways to boost the local production of seaweed, which is an alternative source of income for coastal communities and could help counter the effects of climate change.

In a recent roundtable discussion on seaweed potential for biodiversity-friendly enterprises held at the training center of the Biodiversity Management Bureau in Quezon City, Secretary Gina Lopez disclosed that the DENR has already started the process of identifying suitable sites for seaweed farming in the country, with the help of other government agencies and concerned stakeholders.

She said that some of the potential seaweed farming sites include Calatagan in Batangas, Tambuyong in Quezon, Badian in Cebu, and Caluya Island in Antique, which is near Semirara Island where the controversial coal mining site and power plant is located.

Lopez said the government will not only help in seaweed propagation, but also in marketing its by-products

"The seaweed revenues should affect more than one person while developing an area," Lopez said. "We can get the country out of poverty through this project."

The DENR chief noted the strong market potential of seaweed due to its fast-growing characteristics and high market price, making it an important economic activity to alleviate poverty in the rural areas.

Apart from its economic potential, seaweed is one of the natural and effective carbon sequesters that can be found in the coastal area, and some of its species can grow alongside mangroves.

As such, one of the proposals is to get the fund for the seaweed projects from the Expanded National Greening Program and the People’s Survival Fund.

Using seaweeds for human production and consumption also helps the marine ecosystem as it reduces the organisms that are infesting other lives in the sea.

Among those who attended the meeting were representatives from the Seaweed Industry Association of the Philippines, the University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute, seaweed farmers from Tambuyog, Quezon, Badian, Cebu, and Negros Oriental, Mabunao Agricultural Forest Livelihood Improvement Program, National Fisheries Research and Development Institute, Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia, and the Department of Agriculture. ###

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Published: 03 December 2016

Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) wants to sit down with fishpen and fishcage operators in Laguna de Bay before the planned imposition of moratorium on the issuance and renewal of their permits beginning January next year.

This was revealed by DENR Undersecretary Arturo Valdez, who also heads the National Anti-Environmental Crime Task Force (NAECTF) that recently conducted demolition operations on a 13-hectare illegal fishpen in Laguna Lake falling within the jurisdiction of Muntinlupa City.

Valdez said the dialogue between Lopez and the fishpen and fishcage operators aims to reassure the government's commitment to providing small-time fisherfolk priority access to the 90,000-hectare lake.

"The thrust there is to send the message that the DENR, under Secretary Lopez, will rationalize the lake and the bias will be for the fisherfolk to have access to their traditional fishing ground," Valdez said.

Valdez said that at the heart of the effort is Lopez's agenda to make Laguna Lake "a showcase for social justice."

"Secretary Lopez has made it very clear that the fisherfolk should enjoy the lake," he said.

The coming dialogue was in line with President Rodrigo Duterte's directive to dismantle vast tracts of corporate and private fishpens and fishcages in order for small-time fisherfolk to have access to their traditional fishing ground.

The lake’s current carrying capacity allows up to only 9,000 hectares for aquaculture, but fish pens and cages are occupying 12,375.18 hectares of the surface water, showing a total of 3,375 hectares of excess area for demolition.

But Valdez believes the actual area could be bigger. "I would say it is more than that," Valdez said.

He said that the demolition “was to send a strong message” to the operators of illegal structures to self-dismantle before they enforce the President's order to dismantle illegal aqua facilities by the second week of December.

"We will give them all the chance to harvest their stock," he added.

Data from the Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA) show that there are a total of 1,018 registered or legitimate fish pen and cage operators in Laguna Lake, covering a total of 9,519 hectares. Of this number, 713 are fishcage operators, while 305 are fishpen operators.

According to the LLDA, unregistered operators number to 2,261, occupying 2,856 hectares.

In all, a total of 3,246 structures (both registered and unregistered) can be found in the lake area, consisting of 358 fishpens and 2,890 fishcages which show a mix of corporations and individual owners.

The LLDA has developed a map identifying areas for fishpens, fishcages, fish sanctuaries and open fishing, and identified navigational and barangay access lanes to facilitate the movement of people, goods and services within the lake.

To ensure the maintenance of open fishing ground, the LLDA has designated fish sanctuaries covering around 30,000 hectares in Muntinlupa City, 5,000 hectares in Jala-Jala and Talim Island in Rizal and Laguna Bay, and 127 hectares in Brgy. Tabon, Binangonan, Rizal.###

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Published: 01 December 2016

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) will remain at the forefront of the local fight against climate change through its intensified programs on massive reforestation, forest protection, and coastal restoration and management.

At the National Climate Change Action Plan Forum held at the Hotel Sofitel Philippine Plaza in Pasay City recently, environment officials said the DENR will continue to work toward achieving the country's contribution to the global effort to combat climate change.

Foremost among these climate change mitigation and adaptation measures are the expanded National Greening Program (NGP) and the Coastal and Marine Ecosystems Rehabilitation Program (CMERP).

NGP is a six-year massive forest rehabilitation program that aimed to cover 1.5 million hectares of degraded forestland with trees by the end of 2016. But it was extended until 2028 through an executive order issued in November 2015 in a bid to rehabilitate 7.1 million hectares more.

Speaking on behalf of DENR Secretary Gina Lopez, Director Ricardo Calderon of the Forest Management Bureau said the NGP remains as the most effective anti-climate change initiative in the country.

Calderon said the NGP, along with the intensified campaign against illegal logging, has the potential to reduce up to 40 percent of the country's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

The Philippines, in its intended nationally determined contributions submitted to the United Nations last year, proposed to cut its GHG emissions by 70 percent by 2030.

Calderon said the DENR aims to keep the nation's forests healthy to make them more resilient to climate change and allow them to continue to protect the lives of millions of Filipinos vulnerable to climate change impacts.

But while forests absorb carbon and other GHGs, Calderon said they can also be a major source of carbon emission if they will not be protected from illegal logging activities.

"Trees store carbon inside them, so when they are chopped down, they release the carbon they are storing," Calderon said.

According to him, more than one billion tons of carbon from an estimated 6.8 million hectares of open, closed or mangrove forest covers can potentially be released to the atmosphere if the forests are not properly guarded from illegal loggers.

Meanwhile, Dr. Vincent Hilomen of the Biodiversity Management Bureau made a presentation on CMERP, which began earlier this year and will continue up to 2028.

CMERP seeks to update the baseline conditions of the country's coastal and marine ecosystems while improving and restoring the ecological functions of the species thriving in their natural habitat.

Gigi Perillo of the Environmental Management Bureau discussed the proposed initiatives, including the development and publication of materials for GHG accounting to be used by local government units, the academe and industries.

Perillo also disclosed the plan to conduct studies on soot mitigation and the implementation of the joint carbon mechanism on a national level. #

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Published: 28 November 2016

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is partnering with the Climate Change Commission and other government agencies and stakeholders to ensure the success of a government program designed to promote bamboo as an effective tool for climate change mitigation and poverty alleviation.

Speaking at the recent National Symposium and Exhibit on Bamboo held in Pasay City, DENR Secretary Gina Lopez said the government will make sure local communities will directly benefit from the livelihood component of the so-called "Bamboo Program" of the government.

Lopez said the government plans to invest heavily in the development of bamboo, which not only has proven high carbon sequestration capacity to support climate mitigation, but also could sustainably support local resource-based economies.

"We input money there to grow the bamboos but the result of that creates an economic stimulus and then you keep on growing the money until people's lives come up in time. It has to be impact- oriented and results-geared," Lopez explained.

"In the Bamboo Program we do adaptation because that's protection, and then mitigation because it absorbs carbon and then we do inclusive growth," she added.

Studies have shown that compared to some trees, bamboo has the capacity to sequester 400 percent more carbon per unit area.

The DENR earlier said it plans to establish one million hectares of bamboo plantation in critical watershed areas and other sites covered by the Enhanced National Greening Program within the next six years.

Lopez expressed high hopes on the success of the Bamboo Program which, she said, could help the country access the Green Climate Fund, a financial mechanism under the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

"We need to make this work because if it works, then the country can be a recipient of a lot of money," Lopez pointed out.

Under the Paris Agreement, developed countries have pledged to raise US$1 billion a year by 2020 to help developing countries in their adaptation efforts.

The National Symposium and Exhibit on Bamboo has brought together 300 experts, policymakers and key stakeholders in the bamboo sector to discuss the role of bamboo in climate mitigation and sustainable development.

Secretary Emmanuel De Guzman, the CCC vice chair and executive director, described the event as a "transformative endeavor between the two government agencies to bring about change in our people's lives at the grassroots and to pave the way for greener, healthier and more sustainable future for our country."

"Today's event marks the new milestone for us climate advocates to collaborate efforts and strategies to translate the known benefits of bamboo to life-changing initiatives on the ground," De Guzman said.

Also present during the event were Undersecretary Zenaida Maglaya of the Department of Trade and Industry and Ilocos Sur Rep. Deogracias Savellano, who is the principal author of a bill calling for the creation of the Philippine Bamboo Industry Development Program.

The bill also seeks to declare September as Bamboo Month following the annual celebration of World Bamboo Day on September 18.

The bamboo symposium provided a venue for participants to discuss bamboo as an alternative resource materials and for the government to encourage investors to look into bamboo by-products and their market potential, and present its policy on bamboo.

The exhibit, on the other hand, featured bamboo-made products like bicycle, flute, tea, and clothing materials. Exhibitors included the Philippine Bamboo Foundation, Bamboo Tisane, Sangay Architects, King Flute and Kawayan 7, a musical group which uses musical instruments made from bamboo. ###

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Published: 26 November 2016

The Senate on Tuesday night approved the proposed P28.67-billion budget for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) for next year.

The DENR's 2017 budget, which is 31 percent higher than the agency's P21.8 billion allocation for the current year, was successfully sponsored and defended by Senate finance committee chair Sen. Loren Legarda, with environment and natural resources panel chief Sen. Cynthia Villar as the lone interpellator.

The increase is attributed to the agency's poverty alleviation programs that put priority to massive reforestation and climate change initiatives upon which the Duterte administration's thrust to promote inclusive and sustained economic growth hinges.

Earlier, DENR Secretary Gina Lopez said that a bigger budget would help the department fulfill its commitment to social justice through the implementation of environmental programs, notably the National Greening Program (NGP).

"Our main challenge is to raise the quality of life in communities that are the primary stakeholders and pursue measures that will optimize their growth potentials," Lopez said.

According to Lopez, the budget increase "mirrors the Duterte administration's push for social justice where majority of the Filipino people truly benefit from the country's natural resources."

The environment chief has been eyeing the NGP, the government's flagship reforestation program, as a tool to improve the lives of people living in poverty.

NGP is a six-year massive forest rehabilitation program that aimed to cover 1.5 million hectares of degraded forestland with trees by the end of 2016. But it was extended until 2028 through an executive order issued in November 2015 in a bid to rehabilitate 7.1 million hectares more.

As of November 2016, the NGP has already created more than 3.29 million "green jobs," benefiting individuals hired as workers in producing almost 400 million seedlings.

For 2017, the DENR is asking Congress to allocate P9.4 billion for NGP's implementation. Lopez has vowed to make sure the NGP will continue to benefit the marginalized communities through ecotourism and agro-forestry development.

DENR programs such as the forest protection program was allocated P674 million; Integrated Natural Resources and Environmental Management Project, P966 million; Forestland Management Project, P1 billion; biodiversity conservation program, P763 million; coastal and marine rehabilitation project, P633 million; and the Manila Bay cleanup project, P80 million.

A total of P3.37 billion was earmarked for DENR's two line bureaus.

The Environmental Management Bureau will enjoy the bigger chunk of P2.2 billion to implement projects on solid waste management, clean air and clean water.

The Mines and Geosciences Bureau is allocated P1.15 billion for its mining regulation services and geohazard assessment and mapping.

A total of P1.59 billion was earmarked for the DENR’s attached agencies.

The National Mapping Resource and Information Authority or NAMRIA has an allocation of P1.37 billion, P394 million of which will be used for the government's unified mapping project.

The Palawan Council for Sustainable Development is allocated with P92 million.

Some P129 million will go to the National Water Resource Board for the implementation of its two major projects: the Comprehensive Water Resources Assessment in Major River Basin and the Establishment of Monitoring Stations in Water Constrained Cities. ###

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Published: 24 November 2016