Dumaguete City forest cover up by 30% due to urban forestry program
By Rachelle M. Nessia
DUMAGUETE CITY, Jan. 24 (PIA) --- Dumaguete City now has more forest cover than it had ten years ago, thanks to the Urban Forestry Management and Development (UFMD) program that the city government started undertaking in 2002.
The city government reported that its forest cover increased from only 28% in 2009 to 30% this year, or an equivalent of 1,100 hectares more of land area planted with trees.
Officials from the city’s Environment and Natural Resource Office (ENRO) attribute the increased greenery to UFMD, which the city government continues to undertake to address the sustainability issues besetting Dumaguete City’s aquifer and groundwater resources.
The Dumaguete City Information Office, in a report, explained that UFMD is an “innovative” city government program designed to rehabilitate, conserve, preserve, develop and manage the city’s urban forest resources.
Said program is implemented pursuant to City Resolution No. 130, Ordinance No. 20 enacted in 2002.
“The big challenge of the UFMD program today is global warming of which the only total remedy is by planting more trees,” said UFMD Coordinator Arestio Encabo.
Encabo said more trees in the city will help sustain the local water supply. “By implementing the UFMD program, we are improving the city’s water yield, absorption of toxic gases, improving windbreaks and indirectly reducing pressure on the extraction of natural resources,” he said.
Dumaguete Mayor Manuel Sagarbarria is also regulating the cutting of trees in the city, a move that saved more than ten century-old Acacia trees from being cut down.
The mayor has been appealing to residents with trees in their areas to avoid cutting their trees. “We all must be part of the solution to the problem of global warming and climate change,” the mayor said.
This year, the City Information Office reported that more than 3,000 forest tree seedlings were planted in the city’s different barangays under the UFMD program. (RMN/PIA Negros Oriental)
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Sibulan to mark 102nd founding anniversary
By Rachelle M. Nessia
DUMAGUETE CITY, Jan. 24 (PIA) --- The municipality of Sibulan in Negros Oriental will celebrate its 102nd founding anniversary on Jan. 31 with the theme, “Sibulan Gears Up Towards Sustainable Ecosystem-based Environmental Protection and Preservation.”
Activities slated for the anniversary are focused on disaster preparedness in view of the aftermath of Typhoon Sendong, of which Sibulan was one of the hardest-hit areas in the province.
The celebration kicked off on Jan. 23 with tree-planting and river clean-up activities along the Okoy riverbank all the way to the old dumpsite, said Sibulan Information Officer Connie Rosales.
A forum dubbed “Individual and Family Disaster Preparedness” will also be done after the Holy Mass on Jan. 31.
Sibulan Mayor Marcela Bartoces said the activities are geared towards climate change mitigating measures in order to preclude future disasters.
“People, especially within the flood-prone areas here should always be prepared,” she said.
Bartoces urged Sibulan residents to take part in the activities as disaster preparedness is not only the sole responsibility of the local government but everybody’s as well. (RMN/PIA Negros Oriental)