THIS PAPER reported yesterday that four municipalities in Western Visayas secured approval for their forest land use plans (FLUPs) from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). These were Dingle and Balasan in Iloilo province and Cuartero and Jamindan in Capiz.
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.
These municipalities’ move is commendable and should be emulated by other LGUs in the region. Forests have ecological, economic, social, and health benefits. They have a vital role in reducing poverty, protecting biodiversity, ensuring food security, and promoting sustainable development.
It is unfortunate that we do not exert the same amount of effort to protect our forests than we do in gathering resources from them. This needs to change. We need to ensure that Filipinos, especially our children, are fully aware and can fully understand the benefits and resources we receive and rely from our forests.
Forests cover one third of the planet’s land mass, upon which 1.6 billion people, including more than 2,000 indigenous cultures, depend on forests for their livelihoods, medicines, fuel, food, and shelter. Forests are the most biologically-diverse ecosystems on land, home to more than 80 percent of the terrestrial species of animals, plants, and insects.
The Philippines is one of the few mega-diverse countries in the world, but is also considered a biodiversity hotspot due to an alarming rate of destruction brought about by overexploitation, deforestation, land degradation, pollution, and climate change.
We already have the laws to protect forests and environment but greater action from authorities, as well as the public, is needed to implement these policies.
Yes, for the benefit of current and future generations there is a need to strengthen the sustainable management, conservation, and sustainable development of our forests and trees.
