KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews / 21 April) – The Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources and Energy (MENRE) and the Forest Foundation Philippines (FFP) have forged a partnership for forest conservation and restoration in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
MENRE Minister Akmad Brahim said the partnership with FFP aims to strengthen ongoing efforts to conserve forests and protect the general biodiversity in the Bangsamoro region.
“Our forests are the lifeblood of our region. They provide the water that feeds our lands, the air we breathe, and the heritage we pass on to the next generation of Bangsamoro. Protecting them is not just a mandate, it is a sacred trust,” Brahim said in a statement on Monday.
“The challenges we face – climate change, deforestation, and the need for sustainable livelihoods – are too vast for any single agency to tackle alone. This is why (the partnership with FFP) is so vital,” he added.
Jose Andres Canivel, FPP executive director, acknowledged the important role BARMM plays in the conservation and protection of forests and biodiversity.
“The Bangsamoro holds vast, dense forests and mangroves,” he said.
Canivel, a lawyer, noted the Bangsamoro region “can make significant contributions to key biodiversity areas under the Philippines’ international commitments.”
The Memorandum of Agreement between MENRE and FPP covers partnerships in forest landscape conservation and restoration, capacity building and knowledge exchange, community-based forest resource management, research, monitoring and data sharing, policy and program support, as well as project development and co-financing.
Atty. Badr Salendab, Bangsamoro director general for environment and natural resources, thanked the FFP for its contribution to environmental conservation in the BARMM.
The FPP helped formulate the Bangsamoro Forest and Biodiversity Strategic Action Plan and the finalization of the Bangsamoro Sustainable Forest Management Bill, Salendab said.
This year, Bangsamoro interim Chief Minister Abdulraof Macacua directed the MENRE to reforest at least 2,600 hectares of degraded forestlands across the region, under the Integrated Bangsamoro Greening Program.
The Bangsamoro government allotted P168 million for reforestation and other projects addressing climate change in the region, he said.
Macacua, the BARMM’s first Environment Minister (2019 to 2022), said environmental protection remains a cornerstone of BARMM’s development agenda, particularly in addressing the growing impacts of climate change.
“We will create safe and sustainable living conditions through resilience programs that will strengthen our communities physically and environmentally,” Macacua said in an earlier statement.
According to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority, BARMM’s Land Asset Accountrs from 2015 to 2020, are 86,989 hectares of closed forest, 158,474 of open forest, and 51,881 of mangrove forest as of 2020.
Closed forest means a canopy cover of 40 percent or over, and open forest with 10 to 39 percent of canopy cover. (Bong S. Sarmiento / MindaNews)
