Environment and Natural Resources Sec. Ramon Paje made this disclosure during the opening ceremonies for the Asia-Pacific Forestry Week attended here by some 1,000 key forestry delegates from 30 countries.
He told the delegates that the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has now ranked the Philippines as fifth worldwide “in terms of the most forest gain from 2010 to 2015 at an average annual rate of 240,000 hectares.”
Paje said that “for the fifth year in a row, the government has exceeded its target under the National Greening Program (NGP) with more than 334,000 hectares of denuded and degraded forests planted with trees in 2015.”
He cited data showing that “actual NGP reforestation coverage and corresponding percentage of accomplishment reached 128,558 hectares or 129 percent in 2011, 221,763 hectares or 110 percent in 2012, 333,160 hectares or 111 percent in 2013, and 334,302 hectares or 111 percent in 2014.
Including data from 2015, the total number of hectares would amount to 1,351,783 hectares.
But Paje stressed “we expect the figures to increase as field reports are still coming in,” amid his assurance that the 1.5 million-hectare target up to 2016 would even be exceeded.
Paje reported that some 198 million seedlings have been planted on a total of 334,020 hectares of denuded forests which, he noted, was 11.3 percent higher than the 2015 target of 300,000 hectares.
Paje also said that in 2015 alone, a total of 636,710 jobs were generated through the NGP’s cash-for-work program.
“All DENR regional offices were required to submit their duly notarized accomplishment reports in relation of their respective NGP targets so as to guarantee the authenticity and accuracy of field reports,” he added.
Paje also reported the government’s success against illegal logging, noting “significant reduction of illegal logging hotspots from a high of 197 in 2010 to only 31.”
2015, the NGP has so far covered 1,351,803 hectares of open, degraded and denuded forests, involving some 915.3 million seedlings planted with a total of 2,899,266 jobs generated since 2011,” Paje also said.
