New DENR chief urges public to help preserve the mountains

New Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Elisea Gozun urged the public yesterday to help in the department’s campaign to protect the country’s mountains.

She said "war, poverty, hunger, climate change, and environmental degradation" were some of the results of man’s neglect of the mountains.

"Though some actions were taken and continuing programs are being implemented in the sustainable management of the mountains, still these are small compared to the amount of destruction that people inflict on our mountains," Gozun said, speaking at the closing ceremonies of Year 2002 as International Year of the Mountain (IYM) held yesterday at the Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Nature Center in Quezon City.

The IYM, which was spearheaded by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), aims to "promote the conservation and sustainable development of mountainous regions, ensuring the well-being of the mountains as well as the upland and lowland communities that dwell in it."

Gozun vowed to strengthen the DENR’s community-based forest management program, which she said "will remain as one of the major strategies of the DENR in its quest to promote social justice and combat poverty in the uplands."

She presented FAO representative Dr. Sang Mu Lee with the IYM 2002 report, which covers the highlights, programs and activities undertaken by DENR.

Meanwhile, Gozun has created a five-member committee to determine if there were "midnight appointments" among those recently promoted or appointed by her predecessor Heherson Alvarez.

Gozun ordered a review of all appointments made by Alvarez from Nov. 1 to Dec. 13.

Alvarez allegedly filled "the department with his own people" just before he resigned, earning for him the nickname "Sonny Midnight," said Julie Gorospe-Ibuan, president of the DENR Employees’ Union. – Jose Rodel Clapano