The Department of Environment and Natural Resources spent the first 100 days under the new administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. pursuing sustainable management and development of the environment while creating green jobs and ensuring investments and revenue for the government.
In an accomplishment report dated Sept. 29, the DENR said it has been pursuing a blue and green economy, referring respectively on the fisheries and marine sectors, and agriculture and forestry sectors, into which strategies to address climate mitigation and adaptation are incorporated.
The DENR said it has prepared four resiliency roadmaps and investment portfolios for risk resilience (IPRRs) for the climate-vulnerable provinces.
By Dec. , 12 more resilience roadmaps are expected to be completed for nine climate vulnerable provinces and three major urban areas.
For the green economy, the DENR said from July to Aug. 31, it developed 646 hectares of forestland and produced 702,470 seedlings benefitting 3,605 community-based forest management (CBFM)-people’s organization members nationwide, and provided enterprise livelihood equipment to peoples organizations in Regions 5, 6, 9, 10, and the Cordillera.
For the blue economy, the DENR said from July 1 to Sept. 15, it monitored 50 priority water bodies with 44 of them passing the water quality standards for dissolved oxygen (DO) and 42 water bodies passing the water quality standards for biochemical oxygen demand (BOD).
The agency also monitored 268 esteros/water bodies, of which 156 exhibited significant improvements in BOD, while 160 other water bodies showed water quality improvements in DO.
In the mining sector, the Mines and Geosciences Bureau has issued 797 mining permits/contracts from July to Sept. 15.
Currently, 79 mining projects are being planned to start near-term and/or medium-term mining operations that will bring in total investments of P430 billion, revenues of P93.14B, and jobs to 16,275 individuals, the agency said.
The DENR also monitored the handling of infectious wastes in 42 treatment, storage, and disposal facilities.
Of these, four facilities were found non-compliant and issued with notices of violation. – PNA
April 26, 2024
