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THE Natural Resources Development Corp. (NRDC), the corporate arm of
the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), will
partner with local government units to rehabilitate 50,000
hectares of denuded forests.
“We are encouraging the planting of industrial
trees, which yield hardwood, and the establishment of agro-forestry
projects to enhance the rehabilitation of the country’s denuded
forest areas and to create more income-generating opportunities in
the countryside,” Environment Secretary Lito Atienza said.
The NRDC said the program will give an
additional income of at least P3,000 per family and provide
employment for 10,000 families in each of the selected plantation
areas.
NRDC President Ray Francis Alcoseba said negotiations
are ongoing with Governor Ben Evardone of Eastern Samar and Gov.
Aurora Cerilles of Zamboanga del Sur, the first two of the four
provinces initially identified as the target sites this year. The
other target areas are Misamis Oriental and Cebu.
The agency already signed a memorandum of
understanding with Datu Bayhon Ansihagan, head of the Higaonon
Ancestral Domain Tribal Council, involving 4,235 hectares for the
program in Barangay Eureka, Gingoog City in Misamis Oriental.
Alcoseba said the program, “Planting
Futures,” involves communities that shall provide the labor
component of the program. The communities will be given a corresponding
share from the earnings, that shall be set aside for the college
education of their children.
The NRDC will provide support funds for the
livelihood of the participating communities and will assist in the
marketing of the agricultural products and other cash crops that the
communities will be producing, Alcoseba said.
The local government involved will identify and
provide specific areas within their respective areas where the
industrial tree plantations shall be established; identify organized
communities which shall participate in the program; provide local
funding source for the provision of labor; and assist the NRDC to
ensure effective implementation of the project.
-- Ira Karen Apanay
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