DAVAO CITY, Nov. 21 (PIA) – The local government units in the region were urged to maximize the integrated population, health and environment (PHE) approach in their comprehensive development plans, in a bid to achieve “healthy people in a healthy environment.”
The Commission on Population (Popcom) recently proposed this emerging model to the LGUs following the release of its fifth periodic report focused on the current situation of the population, the state of environment and the health status of Filipinos.
Popcom launched last week in the region the State of the Philippine Population Report 5 (SPPR-5) entitled “Seeking a Healthy Balance,” that underscored the importance of seeing the connection among population, health and environmental factors.
Popcom executive director Dr. Juan Antonio Perez, III said the SPPR-5 promotes the use of the integrated PHE approach that has been found to work especially in developing countries like the Philippines aiming to bring about a healthy and livable environment.
Perez said the strategy is helpful for local government officials to make their development plans sustainable.
He said the report is very timely as the country is often faced with natural and manmade disasters, citing the recent occurrence such as the Bohol earthquake and super typhoon Yolanda which greatly devastated the Visayas region.
“How can we sustain our population, our livelihood in calamity situations like these?” he told representatives of various government agencies during the regional launch of SPPR-5 last week in the city.
Perez also raised the importance of sustainable livelihood programs to be added in the LGUs development plans, urging local officials “You look for important livelihood that you want to sustain in your areas, and see how you integrate it with your population, health and environment.”
“Livelihood must be sustaining. You should not go into areas where livelihood is threatened,” he stated.
The SPPR-5 described the PHE situation in the country, citing the big fast growing population which means growing demand and consumption patters, and the high fertility rate of women.
The report noted how the country is urbanizing very rapidly with figure representing 48-50 percent of the population is living in urban areas.
The SPPR-5 reported the state of rice production stating that it cannot cope up with growing population, and that rice production has decreased by about 600,000 metric tons from the 2008 level.
The production of fish has also been increasing but the rate of increase is not necessarily good because it implies overfishing, the report stated.
It added that mangrove forests have been reduced to only 115,000 hectares as of 1996 and only 4.3% of the country’s corrals is still in excellent condition.
The SPPR-5 underscored that efforts to protect and preserve the environment are done in tandem with efforts to improve people’s health and quality of life. (PIA-11/Carina L. Cayon)
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