Lumads vow to protect environment in Davao Oriental

DAVAO ORIENTAL – Recognizing the tremendous role of the Indigenous Peoples communities in helping protect and conserve the environmen. Members of the newly organized IP group called Davao Oriental Provincial Tribal Council (DOPTRICO) have vowed to do their fair share to help save Davao Oriental’s rich forests and biodiversity.

During the Training on Sustainable Natural Resource Management within Ancestral Domains attended by IP representatives from the ten municipalities and one city of the province, the newly elected officers of DOPTRICO have signified their commitment to safeguard the environment, particularly on their ancestral domains.

Governor Nelson L. Dayanghirang, who officiated the oath-taking of the new set of officers,  the IP communities are the government’s key partners in protecting the forests and its biodiversity since they dwell in proximity to forest lands he said.  He added they are the stewards in the maintenance and management of their forest ecosystem.

Funded by the German government’s REDD Plus (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) Project, the said activity is part of the Provincial Government’s Capacity Enhancement for a Davao Oriental Province-wide Top Bottom Natural Resources Management Biodiversity Conservation and Carbon Enhancement Program of Davao Oriental.

It aims at capacitating the IP leaders on forest management, allowing them to influence their communities on the importance of sustainable natural resources management. Following this activity, the IP leaders are set to work in their communities to conduct information, education and communication (IEC) activities to raise environmental awareness. 

They are also set to mobilize their communities to establish nurseries, conduct tree planting activities, and identify areas to develop permanent forests as well production areas intended for livelihood, thus, ensuring balance in forest management.

Intending to lessen the impact of climate change and global warming, the project also aims to capacitate local tribal councils to formulate plans based in the Provincial Environment Code and participate in policy-making processes.

Aside from helping reducing emissions and biodiversity conservation, the REDD Plus project, which was launched in 2013 here in the province covering the three municipalities of Tarragona, Manay, and Caraga, has been pouring out funds encouraging other co-benefits including provision of livelihoods and safeguarding the rights of the Indigenous Peoples, thus, ensuing sustainable forest management (with report by Sarx Lanos, posted by: Becky D. de Asis)