P92M set for folks in reforest program

By Dexter A. See

BAGUIO CITY — At least P92 million has been set aside by the national government to implement the upland development program to boost empowerment of the people in watershed communities to reforest denuded mountains in the Cordillera.

Out of the said amount, around P60 million will be utilized for the establishment of over 4,000 hectares of UDP sites in Abra, Apayao, Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga, Mountain Province, and in this city this year, while the remaining P32 million will be used to maintain the established UDP areas to ensure the continuity of the project.

Clarence Baguilat, regional director of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in the Cordillera, said the funds will be utilized for the propagation of fruit-bearing trees and assorted tree species that will be used by the concerned families to reforest their designated UPD sites in order to hasten the reforestation of denuded mountains to slowly bring back the greenery of the region’s forests.

Under the program, one family is required to maintain at least one hectare of forestland in their own community and is obliged to make sure that the trees which will be planted will grow.

Once fruit-bearing trees will start producing fruits, the beneficiary will be the one to harvest the same and sell or utilize it as a source of income for the family.

Last year, the DENR, through the advocacy of the Regional Development Council in the Cordillera for an efficient and effective watershed rehabilitation and management, worked out the establishment of over 7,000 hectares of UDP sites which was an initial salvo of the uphill climb to bring back the greenery of the region’s deteriorating state of the environment.