Manila, Philippines -- THE Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) will issue new guidelines on tree-cutting and earth-balling, with experts studying the technical, social and economic aspects, as well as environment-related issues of said activities.
Trees with historical significance and threatened by extinction will get absolute protection and care under such policy reforms, said Environment Secretary Lito Atienza.
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Source: http://businessmirror.com.ph/
By: Jonathan L. Mayuga
Correspondent, Business Mirror
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The policy reforms on tree-cutting and earth-balling was ordered by Atienza amid public clamor to ban tree-cutting in light of the global problem on the impacts of climate change.
“Our technical men in the forestry sector are now studying technical, social, economic, as well as environment-related issues involving tree-cutting and we hope to present whatever policy reforms they would come up with in a multisectoral consultation soon,” Atienza said in a statement.
Earlier, Atienza said in a stakeholders’ meeting regarding new policy directions on the processing and issuance of environmental permits that the DENR is banning, on an interim basis, the issuance of tree-cutting permits. He said the DENR will issue earth-balling permits to allow for the transplantation of trees affected by development projects elsewhere.
Atienza also said during the meeting developers must reorient their project designs in such a way that existing trees are preserved. He stressed that “trees should be preserved at all cost.”
Forester Marlo Mendoza, director of the DENR’s Forest Management Bureau (FMB), said his agency will be proposing several technical considerations as to when tree-cutting will be allowed and not allowed, and when earth-balling shall be required.
Among these proposals, Mendoza indicated that trees with historical significance, like the Tandang Sora tree in Quezon City, “must be avoided during any development projects” and that trees under threat of extinction from Philippine forest be given extra care when transferring them to their new site.
Mendoza will also be recommending that trees for earth-balling should have a maximum size of 25 centimeters in diameter planted within public roads, plazas, school premises and open grounds in private lands.
For trees that are classified as “threatened” but are cleared for earth-balling, Mendoza said the FMB will be issuing guidelines on earth-balling procedure that must be undertaken “regardless of size.”
Some of the more recognized Philippine trees being protected by the DENR from extinction include apitong, kamagong, kalantas, malabayabas, molave, narra and red lauan.
Trees classified as “threatened” by the DENR are listed under Department Administrative Order 2007-01, pursuant to Republic Act 9147, or the “Wildlife Conservation and Protection Act,” including 41 others that are considered to be “critically endangered” or those that are in “extremely high risk of extinction in the wild in the immediate future.”
Mendoza added that the FMB will also be including in the new guidelines the strict observance on the display or installation of placards and signboards notifying the public about the earth-balling and transplanting activities in both places, and that the trees should be planted immediately in an area identified by the DENR and be under maintenance for six months, during which constant watering and regular pruning are needed to ensure the survival and health of the trees.
Complete URL
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