BAUKO, Mountain Province – The municipal government here and the Cordillera office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR-CAR) are currently studying the possibility of delisting over 3,000 hectares of occupied areas within the Mount Data National Park from the reservation and establish the metes and bounds of the forest that must be preserved and protected.
The agreement was initially reached during a recent meeting of Mayor Abraham B. Akilit and DENR-CAR officials led by regional executive director Engr. Ralph Pablo to thresh out the appropriate interventions that must be undertaken to prevent the massive encroachments done by owners of commercial vegetable farms to undisturbed portions of the watershed, particularly in the Palapal area among other patches of forests within the reservation.
However, both parties agreed that the proposed delisting of occupied portions of the forest reservation will not mean the go-signal for inhabitants to introduce massive development and expansion of commercial gardens considering that there will be rules and regulations that will be established to make the area available for integrated use where people will be allowed to maintain their sources of livelihood but with the responsibility of being involved in environmental preservation and protection efforts.
Among the initial conditions of the agreement were the maintenance of ridges and established buffer zones as plantation areas of bushes that will not be able to grow so tall in order to serve as additional attractions and wind breaker in the highest mountain.
Earlier, Mayor Akilit had proposed that portions of the 3,000-hectare occupied portion of the Mount |Data forest reservation will be converted into green or red tea plantations, specifically along steep ridges and at least 20 meters on sides of the roads as buffer zones, to help in efforts to preserve and protect the environment but the same was again misinterpreted by his critics who came out with unlikely conclusions.
Pablo cited the proposal of Alikit to use steep ridges and buffer zones as plantation areas of bushes in order to teach people on how to contribute in addressing the serious negative effects of climate change which is triggered by massive deforestation of mountains, especially in the Cordillera that serves as the watershed cradle of Northern Luzon.
DENR-CAR personnel and local officials will be conducting a series of consultations with the affected communities on the proposed delisting of occupied areas from the reservation and the implementation of necessary rules and regulations that will contribute in slowly bringing back portions of the forest cover in the area.
Further, it was also agreed by both parties that the ridges and buffer zones will be utilized for agro-forestry in order to provide the inhabitants sufficient sources of livelihood so that the people will not be tempted to continue intruding into the undisturbed portions of the watershed because its metes and bounds will be defined and will be declared as strictly forest areas and that man-made activities will not be allowed.
Another important agreement during the said meeting is for the zoning of the watershed so that existing livelihood sources will be enhanced and improved while remaining watersheds will be preserved and expanded for the benefit of the present and future generations.
