German aid agency helps Leyte LGUs in land-use development planning

TACLOBAN, Leyte, Philippines – The German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ), through its Environment and Rural Development (EnRD) program, is helping local government units (LGUs) in Leyte to use participatory land use development planning (PLUP) to draw a roadmap for the development of their respective barangays.

Land use development planning aims to make the communities understand the various elements such as their geography, environment and climate change in allocating areas for development as production zones, free areas, residential, hazard areas, recreation and public areas.

The lack of a practical land use development plan in the Philippines, according to former Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Undersecretary Elmer Mercado, has already shown haphazard development in urban and rural areas — with competing allocations for industrial, mining, residential and protective areas.

With the effects of past destructive developments such as clear-cut logging and climate change now resulting in increasing flooding, landslides and related disasters, the need for land use planning becomes more urgent for the future, Mercado stressed.

In several provinces and barangays in Leyte, land use planning based on the GIZ PLUP model is slowly being taught, understood and adopted.

Pilot areas such as Alang-Alang and Tanauan are in various stages of their PLUP, enabling them to understand the development of their community and the need to allocate specific uses for their land to maximize food production, prevent natural disasters, harness natural resources and provide for well-planned communities that also promote biodiversity.

The GIZ’s model aims to encourage land use planning from the ground up, rather than coming from the top going down.

However, for land use planning to be adopted nationwide, Mercado stressed the need for Congress to finally act and pass a National Land Use Act (NaLUA) which has been languishing in the legislative mill for several years now.

The NaLUA bill in Congress, according to Mercado, has only two more years to be acted upon by the current Congress before it ends and a new bill would again have to be re-filed by the next Congress.

Even government agencies agree on the need for a Land Use Act to settle once and for all various environmental, production and developmental concerns.

Two agencies of the DENR — the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) and the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau (PAWB) — both agree on the need for a definitive Land Use Act.

PAWB director Mundita Lim stressed the need for a clear delineation of protective areas and natural parks to enable the conservation of fast disappearing biodiversity hotspots in the country.

Unfortunately, there are numerous overlapping disputes over designated protective areas and natural parks with mineral rich zones.

While MGB director Leo Jasareno agrees with the need for a definitive Land Use Act, he disputes the PAWB’s claims over mineralized areas.

According to Jasareno, there is also a need to address the country’s economic and development concerns.

Jasareno argued that while protected areas and natural parks do serve a purpose, the government is woefully under-funded or equipped to monitor the land, resulting in continued illegal activities such as logging, kaingin, small-scale mining and other destructive activities.