DENR exec backs for continuous environment education

By: Herzon F. Gallego

 Butuan City -- The Filipino people, young, and old alike must be taught continuously about the preservation of the environment.

Regional Director Nonito M. Tamayo of the Department of Environment and Natural Resource Region 13 (Caraga) said the importance of educating and informing our people must be promoted in schools so they can appreciate fully about the wonders of our country. 

“The need to teach and educate our children about environment and natural resources must be fully supported by everyone,” Director Tamayo said.  “The people must be concerned about conservation of our natural resources”, he added.

The state of our environment is alarming.   For instance, the marine ecosystem which are natural habitats for fish and marine micro-organism where they feed, breed, and spawn, providing us with food source  is being destroyed by wastes and plastic garbage that we throw in the waters.

He said the Filipino people have reason to be proud of its natural wonders. The Philippines is described in a report as the “epicentre of marine biodiversity “, with the richest concentration of marine life on the whole world.

Much of these resources can be found in the Verde Island Passage, a strait between Batangas and Mindoro where marine biologist recorded a total of 117 species of reed fish belonging to 35 families in six study sites they have conducted in 2013.

But the fragile ecosystem in this area is being threatened by overfishing, over-population, waste from passing ships and tourist activities from mushrooming resorts in area, the harvesting of marine wildlife and destruction of habitat.

 “We must preserve our natural resources from the brink of losing them.  Too much human activities result in the destruction of the ecosystem in the forests and in the seas “, he said. “We should sustain them” he said.

Indeed, it’s urgent to educate the people continuously about the state of the environment in the country hoping their attitudes and practices would be changed by what they learn from environmental advocates through the social media, schools, and others.

DENR Sec. Lopez requires ISO 14001 to all mining companies

By: Herzon F. Gallego

 Butuan City -- DENR Secretary Regina Paz L. Lopez has required all mining companies in the country to subscribe to ISO 14001 Certification as she evaluates the safety of the mining industry to ensure that they are operating within the government standards.

             A responsible mining, she said, is keeping the highest standards that the law requires in their mining operation.

 Secretary Lopez has called for an entirely new audit of all the mines currently in operation.

The new DENR Secretary has started cancelling the mining permits of the erring mining firms after finding out that they failed to subscribe to the ISO 14001.

ISO 14001 indicates a good management and control of the environmental aspects of operations in line with the global best practices and standards.

In requesting for an ISO 14001 certification, a company undergoes assessment, training, documentation, and process audit.  There is a continuous monitoring operation as well as site audit by the Bureau of Mines and the Environment Management Bureau of the DENR every six months.

Top DENR-13 officers take 2-day orientation on Foreign-Assisted Projects

By: Herzon Gallego

Butuan City --DENR-13 Regional Director Nonito M. Tamayo and his senior officers, including the PENR Officers, CENR Officers, and Division Chiefs attended a two-day orientation about Foreign-Assisted and Special Project (FASP) held at Amontay Beach Resort in Nasipit, Agusan del Norte to familiarize themselves with its operation and management system in the region.

There are 26 on-going FASPs nationwide with a total cost of US$ 466.38 million (P 21.4 billion pesos) implemented since 2007 until 2022. Eight of these projects are active in Caraga Region.

These projects are (1) the Philippine Climate Change Adaptation Project (PhilCCAP) with a total grant amount of US $ 4,970,000, which is a pilot project with the objective of developing and demonstrating approaches that would enable targeted communities to adapt to the potential impacts of climate variability and change; (2) Strengthening National System to Improve Governance and Management of Indigenous People and Local Communities Conserved Areas and Territories (Philippine ICCA Project) with a total grant amount of US$ 1,890,000. This project strengthens the conservation, protection, and management of key biodiversity sites in the Philippines by institutionalizing IPs and local communities conserved areas and territories as a sustainable addition to the National Protected Area estate; (3) Integrated Persistent Organic Pollutants Management Project (IPOPs Management Project) with a total grant amount of US$ 26,670,000 by the World Bank/Global Environment Facility (WB-GEF); (4) Philippine Solid Waste Management Sector Project (PSWMSP) with a grant amount of US $ 3,000,000 by the Asian Development Bank . This project will improve efficiency and reliability of delivery of Solid Waste Management services to residents in the recipient LGUs which include construction of sanitary landfill and Material Recovery Facility, purchase of garbage collection trucks, MRF waste bins and equipments among others; (5) Program on Forest Study on "The Role of Forest in Reducing Poverty and Enhancing Climate Resilience (PROFOR) with a total grant amount of US$ 300,000 by the World Bank. This is a study of the DENR with the objective to enhance understanding of how forest and the ecosystem services contribute and mutually reinforce both poverty reduction and resilience in the Philippines; (6) Scaling up Implementation of the Sustainable Development Strategy for the Seas of East Asis (SDS-SEA) with a total grant amount of US$ 167,909,459 by the UNDP-GEF, Partner Countries and NGOs. This project represents the "transformation phase" of a series of GEF support, culminating on the sustainability of the PENSEA as a regional coordinating mechanism for the implementation of SDS-SEA ; (7) Strengthening the Marine Protected Area System to conserve Marine Key Biodiversity Areas ( MKBA) with a total grant amount of US$ 8,000,000 by the UNDP-GEF; (8) Partnership for Biodiversity Conservation: Mainstreaming in Local Agricultural Landscapes, or Biodiversity Partnership Project (BPP) with a total grant amount of Php 691,606,338.43. This project will directly address barriers through an integrated approach aimed at strengthening enabling policies at the national level; enhancing capacities of LGUs, and demonstration in selected pilot sites.

According Roberto Oliveros, Assistant Regional Director for Technical Services, "The extent and nature of involvement of the regional office in the implementation of these Foreign-Assisted Projects require strong coordination between the DENR and the FASPO".

The 2-day orientation also discussed and clarified the different types of Overseas Development Assistance Project and the distribution of different DENR-FASPs nationwide; the process and procedures in the Project Management Cycle vis-à-vis; the role of FASP office; the project preparation and packaging as initiated by field offices in close coordination with the FASP; and Well-Coordinated field implementatin, monitoring and evaluation.

Among the resource persons are USEC Manuel D. Gerochi, Policy, Planning and Foreign-Assisted Projects; ASEC Rommel A. Abesamis, Director Adeluisa G. Siapno; Conrado A. Bravante, Jr. , Chief of the FASP Management Division; Eddie B. Abungan, Head of the Project Preparation Division; Imelda dela Cruz, Chief, Project Accounts Management Division; Jeslina B. Gorospe , Chief of Project Monitoring and Evaluation Division; Alex Pascuam, Staff, Office of USEC for Policy and Planning; Wilbur Dee of PhilCCAP; and Nicole Angeles, Project Management Staff.