10.9 has of NV, Quirino forests destroyed daily

CABARROGUIS, Quirino — The forest covers of this province and neighboring Nueva Vizcaya, Cagayan Valley’s major watersheds, continue to be depleted at 4,001 hectares every year or 10.9 hectares every day.

These figures are based on a report of the US Agency for International Development-assisted Philippine Environmental Governance (EcoGov) in Luzon, which is now focusing its efforts on reducing destructive activities in the forest reserves of the Sierra Madre mountain range, which straddles the two provinces.

Quirino’s 80 percent forest cover is reportedly being reduced by 3,545 hectares a year or 9.7 hectares a day.

Its former mother province, Nueva Vizcaya, still has 51 percent forest cover, but this is being depleted by 456 hectares annually or 1.2 hectares daily.

Because of this, Bien Dolom, EcoGov forest land specialist, said forest reserves in the Sierra Madre mountain range in Cagayan Valley, especially in the two provinces, are declared priority areas for environmental protection and management programs and activities.

However, Quirino and Nueva Vizcaya, along with Isabela, which still maintains 579,817 hectares of forest cover, one of the country’s largest, are not yet considered "illegal logging hot spots" by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources despite the destructive activities going on there.

While Sierra Madre’s rich biodiversity, particularly in the two provinces, serves as lifeblood to power and irrigation facilities in Luzon, Dolom said massive illegal cutting of trees, excessive migration, rampant slash-and-burn farming and timber poaching are threatening this.

Forests in Quirino and Nueva Vizcaya serve as watersheds for major dams such as the Pantabangan Dam in Nueva Ecija, the Casecnan multipurpose irrigation and power project in Nueva Vizcaya, and the Magat Dam in Isabela, three of the country’s major sources of power and irrigation.

The three dams generate at least 1,000 megawatts for the Luzon grid and irrigate at least 600,000 hectares of farmlands in Nueva Ecija, Isabela, Quirino and western Pangasinan.

"Our forest cover in (Quirino and Nueva Vizcaya) is now in critical condition since it is being threatened by the conversion of old growth forests into residual ones," he said.

Dolom cited an urgent need to implement forest protection and management schemes, especially by the local governments concerned, to prevent further degradation of Luzon’s remaining forested areas.

"If the wanton destruction of our forests remains unabated, then the lifespan of our infrastructure such as roads, bridges and dams will be shortened, if not (they will be) destroyed," he said.

Besides Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino and Isabela, the Sierra Madre mountain range, which still accounts for the vast area of virgin forest in Northern Luzon, also straddles the provinces of Quezon, Aurora, Bulacan, Rizal, Nueva Ecija and Cagayan.

Luzon’s forests, which also include those in the Cordillera and Caraballo mountain ranges, account for more than 400,000 hectares of the country’s 800,000 hectares of remaining forest cover.

Recently, Greenpeace, an international environmental group, revealed that illegal cutting of trees is still rampant in the Sierra Madre.