LA TRINIDAD, Benguet — The European Union approved a 434,000 Euros or P26.4 million watershed management project which will be implemented in six identified sites in this vegetable-producing province over a period of two years or from 2011-2013.
The project entitled “Saving the Benguet Watersheds for Water” will reportedly help increase the active participation of local government units and all other stakeholders in forest and watershed management through empowered and strengthened partnerships so that the deteriorating condition of the province’s forests due to massive expansion of vegetable farms will be effectively and efficiently addressed.
Moreover, the EU-funded project will effectively and efficiently demonstrate how devolution of forest management from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to local governments will take place in the framework of existing legislations.
The project sites are located in Ambassador, Tublay; Poblacion, Bokod; Poblacion, Atok; Sagpat, Kibungan; Camp 1, Tuba and Banangan, Sablan.
The EU delegation to the Philippines Attache for Environment, Energy and Climate Change Mr. Matthieu Penot and his party will be leading the formal launching of the noble environmental project on Tuesday, October 18, 20111 which will be held at the provincial Capitol of Benguet.
The watershed and forest management project will be implemented by the Jaime V. Ongpin Foundation, Inc. (JVOFI) in partnership with the provincial government, the DENR, Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) and the Benguet State University (BSU).
The implementation of the project will help in the relentless efforts of concerned national government agencies and local governments to preserve and protect the status of the Cordillera as the watershed cradle of Northern Luzon so that the national government will be able to achieve its desired food and energy self sufficiency in the coming years.
Out of the total project cost, 85 percent or 368,900 Euros which is equivalent to P22.48 million will be shouldered by the Eu-ropean Union while the remaining 15 percent of the project cost will be the counterpart of the JVOFI and the Peace and Equity Foundation.
The EU contribution to the watershed and forest management project is granted under the Strategic Projects Facility (SPF 2) which is a 6.5 million Euros or P400 million program designed to support and showcase good practices in local governance.
13 SPF 2 projects have already been approved by the European Union and implementation of the multi-million peso projects are now reportedly going on in the different parts of the country.
Considering the bad state of the watersheds and forests in the different parts of the region, government agencies and local governments are now being constrained to look for foreign funding to expedite the implementation of desired indigenous practices to help preserve and protect the deteriorating forests due to the expansion of commercial vegetable farms. – Dexter See
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