Iloilo launches first beach refo
ILOILO CITY
April 5, 2014
TIGBAUAN TOWN, 20
kilometers south of the provincial capital Iloilo City launches today its
ambitious program that aims to protect its people from calamities, restore its
marine life and push back the sea.
Mayor Suzettee
Tenefrancia Alquisada says the "beach reforestation program" aims to
cover 10 hectares of buffer zone stretching through nine coastal barangays.
Gov. Arthur D.
Defensor leads the launching this morning of the first beach reforestation project
with the planting of 5,000 mangroves along the tidal flats and "mangrove
cousins" in beaches unreached by tidal flow.
The seedling include
"bakhaw", talisay (Terminalia catappa), beach agoho (Casuarina
equisetifolia), coconuts (cocos nucifera) and "kamunsil" (kamatsili
or Pithecellobium dulce).
Some 1,500
volunteers this morning trooped to the venue the mouth of the Sibalom River.
The gather turns out both into tree planting and some sort of forum with
Defensor taking time narrating the success story of a fishing community in an
island in Negros Occidental.
"Their lives as
illegal fishers changed after enlisted them in beach regreening. "In less
than two years, their daily catch of various marine products dramatically
increased," Defensor says.
This rown's
shoreline has been receeding as sea level rises. Past coastal reforestation
program of the Iloilo provincial government focused largely on mangrove
planting.
Defensor vows to
replicate the project in other coastal towns. He represents Iloilo Province in
the Visayas Sea Marine Bio-Diversity Coalition, which seeks to revive the
worlds richest fishery area in terms of biodiversity.
Dr. Jurgenne J.
Primavera, retired scientist from the South East Asia Fisheries Council, a
consortium of East Asian countries, writes that mangroves and its cousins,
beach forest trees, are crucial in mitigating the impact of global warming
because "they sequester carbon and other green house gases 10 times more
efficient than inland forests," serve as better natural coolants.
Primavera, recipient
of international awards for her studies on mangroves, now serves as consultant
on mangroves for Norway.
Aside from that,
they serve as "first line of defense" against floods, tsunamis, sea
surges, storms, sea intrusions, and even pest and diseases. They reclaim the
sea, serve as biofilter cleaning the water, and habitat and breeding ground of
fishes, thus, ensuring food security.
Still, they are
sources of fuel, housing materials, medicines, and fabrics, among others.
Alquisada says the
beach reforestation program will continue after the provincial subsidy ends in
2016.
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