DENR 6 readies emergency employment projects
The Forest Management Services (FMS) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) had announced that they have put in place the mechanics of their emergency employment projects.
FMS OIC Regional Technical Dir. Livino Duran said they have identified the Upland Development Program and the Bantay Gubat projects in line with the government's Comprehensive Livelihood Emergency Employment Program (CLEEP).
Duran said they have allocated 2,479 hectares, targeting one hectare per beneficiary, who will be tasked to develop the area according to components, like reforestation, assisted natural regeneration, or agro-forestry.
The priority beneficiaries for the Upland Development Project will be those coming from poor upland and coastal households who will gain income through planting of cash crops, jobs in nursery production, planting and maintenance of reforestation and mangrove projects, and planting fruit trees.
These volunteers, as DENR calls them, will be given mobilization fund of 15 percent while clearing their lands, and then the next 60 percent upon actual development work, and then the remaining amount as the work progresses, which totals to P15,000 per hectare.
This way, Duran said, the volunteers feel their stake in forest protection, while earning a living.
For the Bantay Gubat Project, DENR-6 targets 1,960 volunteers, with an allowance of P3,000 per month, to conduct monitoring, enforcement and advocacy related to natural resources laws.
Duran said they are now posting announcements for applicants in various municipalities and they are set to process an initial 161 volunteers, gradually increasing till June 2009, to reach the 1,920 target volunteers.
He also said that they are urgently facilitating immediate work for those volunteers because of the need of jobs for the poor and because many portions of the region have suffered from environmental degradation brought by Typhoon Frank.
The national target for employment generation for Upland Development and Bantay Gubat is 110,429.
These projects are under DENR's Green Collar Jobs that do not only intend to provide jobs to poor upland population but also to address climate change with people's participation (PIA 6/ESS)