LEGAZPI CITY, April 21 (PIA) – The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Bicol regional office will form a composite action team to ensure the implementation of the Mangrove and Beach Forest Development Project (MBFDP) in the region.
DENR Bicol regional director Gilbert C. Gonzales has ordered the formation of the team, composed of DENR personnel, to conduct site assessment, validation and mapping, and determine the sources of planting materials to be used.
The team is comprised of DENR Bicol personnel, with overall coordinator from the Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau, while the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office of each province in cooperation with the local government units and with technical support of other agencies will overseer project implementation.
The project implementation will involve site preparation and other activities to be done in one year and nine months, which will then be taken over by registered people’s organizations.
DENR Bicol, according to Gonzales, has since started the nursery plantation development, capacity building in communities and monitoring. The agency targets 7,144 hectares for the implementation of the MBFDP, including Albay, with 1,000 hectares (has); Camarines Norte, 1,900 has; Camarines Sur, 1,100 has; Catanduanes, 700 has; Masbate, 2,130 has; and Sorsogon, 314 has.
Some P134 million has been allocated for the entire Bicol that will cover cost for site preparation, validation, planting and maintenance of the seedlings.
The biggest chunk of the budget is allotted for the collection of beach forest and mangrove seedlings or propagules, which will eat up 67 percent of the budget.
The P1 billion MBFDP was conceived for the rehabilitation of mangrove and beach forest, especially in areas damaged by typhoons as the national government’s means of strengthening the country’s coastline and to serve as its strategy against climate change.
The project is part of the rehabilitation and reconstruction program of the government and is based on FY 2014 General Appropriations Act (RA No. 10633) Section XIV. (MAL-PIA5/Albay)