ILOILO City – Four municipalities in Western Visayas secured approval for their forest land use plans (FLUPs) from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
Dingle and Balasan in Iloilo province and Cuartero and Jamindan in Capiz successfully completed the preparation of their FLUPs and these were approved by the DENR on June 3.
A FLUP is a planning tool that equips local government units (LGUs), DENR and other stakeholders to comprehensively map out future economic progress of an area in the context of sustainable forest management, biodiversity management, climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction and management and forest degradation.
Also on June 3, the FLUP Implementation Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) was signed at the Activity Center of DENR’s regional office here.
The MOA serves as the final document for the legitimization of the FLUPs after undergoing the processes required for their formulation as prescribed by the DENR.
The signing thereby commenced the local government units’ pursuit to sustainably manage their forest resources and further finalized DENR’s partnership in forest protection, development and management.
The FLUPs’ Implementation MOA was a symbol of the partnership forged between DENR-6 and local government units to co-manage the forests and forestland resources in order to attain sustainable development for the benefit of the people.
DENR-6 regional executive director Francisco E. Milla Jr. underscored the need to balance economic development with environmental protection.
“The FLUPs will serve as guides for the local officials in their decision-making,” he said. “FLUPs should be part of your Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP), and while other local government units allotted only a page on FLUP in their CLUP, you have one whole book as you FLUP.”
He also said local governments can learn a lesson from Boracay Island.
“Because of the imbalance of priorities, many things were not planned. On the beach easement, structures were removed. Permanent structures were also built on forestlands and wetlands because many workers stayed in boardinghouses and no longer returned to their homes,” he said.
The chief executives of the four towns, namely: Mayor Jimmy Quicoy of Dingle, Mayor Manuel Ganzon of Balasan, Mayor Mac Arthur Valdemar of Jamindan and Mayor Tito Mayo of Cuartero thanked DENR-6 for helping themcraft their respective FLUPs.
The benefits of having a FLUP address the nine priority programs of DENR secretary Roy Cimatu, namely: Clean Air; Clean Water; Solid Waste Management; Geohazard, Groundwater Assessment and Responsible Mining; National Greening Program; Intensified Forest Protection and Anti-illegal Logging; Enhanced Biodiversity Conservation; Scaling Up Coastal and Marine Ecosystems; and Improved Land Administration and Management. The tenth priority is focused on Manila Bay Cleanup. (DENR-6/PN)
