ILOILO CITY (PIA) –The community-based Forestland Management Project (FMP), an 11-year cooperation between Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), has brought benefits particularly in Iloilo towns, which is among the implementing areas of the project out of the three major river basins nationwide.
FMP has conducted reforestation activities to increase forest cover, provided People’s Organization (PO) capacity development to strengthen management capacity, established local enterprises development to increase household income, and constructed farm-to-market roads, pathways, concrete and hanging bridges, and irrigation pipeline system to aid in forest conservation efforts of upland communities.
The said project was implemented in three major river basins of Upper Magat and Cagayan, Pampanga, and Jalaur.
With this, JICA and DENR’s joint monitoring team recently visited the municipalities of Janiuay, Lambunao, and Calinog in Iloilo covered by Jalaur River Basin to confirm project accomplishments through discussions with 22 partner POs, communities, and LGUs.
Findings include 13,027 hectares of new tree and agroforestry plantations,
16.44 percent increase in vegetative cover from 2015 to 2021 Geo-Spatial Data Analysis, and 600 kilograms of coffee beans harvest per year.
Moreover, some of the feedback from the beneficiaries is that the FMP has strengthened community bonds. The construction of agroforestry support facilities improved better access to basic social services such as education, healthcare, and spurred economic activity for upland farmers.
In fact, in one community in Marandig, Calinog, going to Iloilo City which is the regional center, this usually takes three days (round trip) but is now reduced to less than six hours.
“The FMP has improved my income and enabled me to send my three sons to university. My sons also want to be involved in forest conservation,” said one of the villagers Jimmy Rapista residing in Panuran, Janiuay.
Critical to the success of the project was the collaboration with the community according to DENR.
“We need to change individuals to change the society,” noted Forester Raul L. Lorilla, Regional Executive Director of DENR 6.
DENR expressed its intention to continuously support communities and LGUs and even mainstream the FMP in their regular activities in the future.
JICA, on the other hand, vowed to continue partnering with the Philippines from national to local level towards quality development of forests. (AAL/AGP/PIA 6 with reports from JICA Philippines)
