Reactivation of watershed management boards pushed
The provincial government of Iloilo is urging the existing watershed management boards in Iloilo to reactivate and strengthen their working groups under the Iloilo Watershed Management Council.
Iloilo Governor Niel Tupas, Sr., in his message to the participants of the 9th "Piyesta a Kakahuyan" in Bgy. Daha, Maasin, Iloilo, said there is an urgent need to call the town mayors for a meeting to firm up watershed plans.
Sol Sucaldito of the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO) said Gov. Tupas wanted the mayors to deal with the rehabilitation and protection of the watershed areas by having a sustainable program drawn up in a watershed management plan and a watershed board to implement it.
She also said that the recent tree planting activity in the Maasin watershed area is not a one shot deal but a continuing effort, wherein the more than 45,000 seedlings planted will be taken cared of by personnel who will be hired by the provincial government to ensure survival.
The species planted were the endemic ones, which are suited for the watershed area.
Meanwhile, Iloilo Board member Arthur Defensor, Jr. said those who joined the activity did not plant only trees; they planted a vision for the province of Iloilo which should be nurtured for the generations to come.
Both Defensor and Maasin Mayor Mariano Malones, Jr., believed that human resources, namely the population in a given watershed area, exert pressure on the natural resources, hence, stakeholders should work to lessen threats like these, to the country's food security and sufficiency. (PIA6/ESS).