DENR targets 3 million hectares of forest cover by 2028

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Environment and Natural Resources targets to increase the country’s forest cover by an additional three million hectares by 2028 as part of efforts to minimize the impact of climate change, DENR Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo Loyzaga revealed.

"We have four targeted areas for reforestation, 1.2 million hectares that can be made available to projects for reforestation in the country. Our goal in the DENR is by 2028, to add at least three million hectares of forest cover to our 15 million hectares classified forest lands, seven million of which are actually covered with forest,” Loyzaga said during the recent deliberation of the House committee on appropriations on the agency’s 2025 proposed budget of P26.027 billion.

Loyzaga noted that the DENR has launched its geospatial database, a system to map the country’s natural resources.

“The quality of forest is something that we are studying, whether these are fragmented, whether these are close or open, those have also bearing on what we are calling relevant to climate change and its impact,” she added.

To promote this idea, Loyzaga said the DENR plans to provide incentives.

“There is a concerted move on the part of the DENR to provide incentives and hopefully invite interested parties to invest in forestry for the first 1.2 million hectares after we present this (plan) to President Marcos for his appreciation,” the secretary said.

Meanwhile, Loyzaga said the DENR would finish in September a study on the impact of reclamation projects in Manila Bay, including its possible contribution to flooding in Metro Manila. The agency, she added, has tapped various experts, including the University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute, in the ongoing study.

“We have yet to run the flood modeling relating to the different scenarios. We are running four different scenarios. The first one would be no reclamation; second one, there would be reclamation projects that are ongoing; the third one would be for those that actually have Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC); and the fourth one would be, the full-blown reclamation project scenario,” she pointed out.

According to Loyzaga, data on the recent Typhoon Carina will be used in the study and that the findings would be submitted to the Office of the President through the Philippine Reclamation Authority.

Loyzaga clarified that it is not the DENR who will suspend or decide on the continuation of the reclamation projects.

“We are submitting the results of the investigation and evaluation of both the ECC and area clearances that the conditionalities that were attached to this given the different conditions wherein they were granted at the time of the previous administration,” she noted.

According to Loyzaga, the study aims to determine the economic, ecological and social impacts of the reclamation projects.

“Again, the DENR is bound by the mandamus order of the Supreme Court ... in order to restore Manila Bay’s swimmability,” she stressed.