DENR Places Ban on Cutting Natural Forests

TITLE: Paje: Stop cutting of trees

Source: http://www.mb.com.ph/

By: MARVYN N. BENANING

Manila Bulletin

MANILA, Philippines – Environment Secretary Ramon J. P. Paje has banned logging in natural and Residual forests in compliance with an order from Malacañang, making it anyone from cutting trees in forests still teeming with indigenous species.

Paje also announced in a press briefing that he has cancelled 176 Integrated Forestry Management Agreements (IFMAs) and barred 24 holders from harvesting trees.

A closer reading of EO 23 shows that it does not call for a total logging ban, thus paving the way for owners of tree plantations to legally cut trees in their concessions.

President Aquino justified the moratorium on logging by saying that wanton cutting of trees exacerbate climate change and leads to floods and heavy rains, as what has happened in the country’s eastern seaboard.

He also noted that the denudation of the country’s forest zones have a destructive effect on the environment and the river systems that support hydroelectric plants and irrigation systems.

Of the country’s 30 million hectares, 15.05 million hectares are classified as forest lands and 755,000 hectares as unclassified forest land, which covers natural forests found in Caraga, in the Sierra Madre mountain range and in the Samar Island Natural Park (SINP), where a large logging company operates.

The total extant forests cover only 7,168,400 hectares but environmental advocates insist the total natural growth forests cover only nearly one million hectares.

Government is losing out in its reforestation program since it only succeeded in covering 19,020 hectares, with the private sector responsible for another 6,726 hectares.

Paje said the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) would intensify the monitoring of natural growth forests not only through the deployment of foot patrols but also the use of satellite imaging.

EO 23 ordered DEN R to review all IFMAs, Socialized Integrated Forest Management Agreements (SIFMAs) and Community-Based Forestry Management Agreements (CBFMs) and yank out those that have violated the terms of their stewardship accords.

Aquino also wants DENR to implement a forest certification system that abides by standards and guidelines set by the United Nations (UN) “to ascertain the sustainability of legal sources and chain of custody of timber and wood products nationwide.”

He said DENR, the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) should develop a National Greening Program (NGP), pledging to make upland dwellers beneficiaries of the conditional cash transfer (CCT) program administered by Social Work Secretary Dinky Soliman.

Complete URL: http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/302496/paje-stop-cutting-trees