DAVAO DEL NORTE, March 26 (PIA)– Panabo-based banana exporter, through its partner foundation, has adopted a local river as their Adopt-A-River project, in support to their commitment in the National Greening Program (NGP) of the government.
A division of Dole Philippines, Dole-Stanfilco through Kasilak Development Foundation inked on March 25 an agreement with the provincial government of Davao del Norte and the municipality of Carmen for the protection, preservation and conservation of Carmen River, formerly Ising River.
Done during the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council meeting, the agreement was signed by Governor Rodolfo del Rosario of Davao del Norte, Mayor MarcelinoPerandos of Carmen and JoemilMontebon, executive director of Kasilak Foundation.
Montebon said that DOLE Stanfilco chose Carmen River as their next project upon the recommendation of its Panabo office, citing the river to have denuded riverbanks that should be rehabilitated as Carmen River forms part of the major catch-basin in Davao del Norte.
In an interview, Mayor Perandos said that the project will eventually lessen the occurrence of flooding in their municipality since the protection and preservation of the riverbank will minimize soil erosion and over-flooding of water.
This will also be a good opportunity to increase the awareness of the people in the locality on mitigating the effects of climate change in their area, Mayor Perandos said.
The project amounting to P 172,800 will be implemented until January 2015 by the project management team composed of the Kasilak Foundation, DOLE-Stanfilco, Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO), municipal government of Carmen, Department of Education (DepEd) and the barangays within the riverbanks.
Montebon said that although the MOA stated a duration of one year, the Kasilak Foundation will implement a three-year program in Carmen River depending on the extent of its rehabilitation and the environmental protection needs of the community surrounding it.
Launched on March 18, the project management team started planting 7,000 forest, fruit and bamboo trees in the three-kilometer stretch riverbank.
Aside from that, the team will also be calling for meetings among local stakeholders to intensify and institutionalize their participation through conduct of information and education campaigns in schools, churches, plantations and barangay.
The management team will also organize River Watch teams and multi-tripartite stakeholders group as well as establish two-community based nursery center.
The team will also implement and enforce appropriate land use practices and regulations, and environmental protection laws.
Carmen River is the third Adopt-A-River project of the foundation. The previous projects were Dapongpong Creek in Maragusan, Compostela Valley and Cogan Creek in Malagos, Davao City. (PIA 11, Michael Uy)
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