Proposal to pay residents to protect watersheds mulled
A STUDY looking into providing alternative livelihood practices that will lessen the negative impact on water sources will be presented during the Watershed Summit on Aug. 24-25. Commissioned by Interface Development Interventions, the study will explore whether the local government and stakeholders, can give financial support to residents whose livelihoods are affected by various conservation laws as a way also of lessening the residents’ impact on the watershed area. “The ‘payment’ does not have to come in the form of financial aid,” said IDIS executive director Mary Anne Fuertes in a phone call. “We do not want money just thrown around. Preferably, it should be in livelihood trainings that focus on environmentally friendly best practices.”
Dayanghirang’s bid to limit WMC power questioned
DAVAO CITY – A representative of a civil society organization is strongly opposing a proposal by Councilor Danilo Dayanghirang that will limit the influence of the Watershed Management Council (WMC) in implementing and drafting of environmental legislation. Civil Society Organization (CSO) representative to the WMC Chinkie Pelino told Mirror that WMC is denouncing the proposal which already passed first reading in the City Council on July 18. The move even puzzled WMC as the item was nowhere in the agenda when they attended the council session last Tuesday. Pelino said they only found out about the proposal in the records of the City Council secretariat showing the proposed measure passed first reading on July 18.
Envi group assails attempt to amend Watershed Code
ENVIRONMENT group Interface Development Interventions (IDIS) criticized the move of the city council to amend the Watershed Management Code. In a statement, IDIS executive director Mary Ann Fuertes called the proposal “anti-environment and contrary to the strategic direction of the City on sustainably managing its watersheds.” Second district Councilor Danilo Dayanghirang authored the proposal, which seeks to reduce the WMC’s role in issuing “official policies on the expansion of commercial/corporate plantations in the prime agricultural areas.”
Group pushes for amendment of national water code
DAVAO CITY – Environmental group, Interface Development Interventions, Inc., has called on the presumptive President, Rodrigo Duterte to amend the national water code and give more leeway to the local government units in assessing and monitoring their water resources. IDIS also called on Duterte “to devolve the enforcement provisions in the Philippine Water Code from the National Water Regulatory Board (NWRB) to local government units.” IDIS Executive Director Ann Fuertes said local government units are more familiar with their local water resources and can immediately conduct inspections and assessments without waiting for the NWRB team from the central office.
Saving Panigan-Tamugan Watershed for the Future
DAVAO CITY – The Panigan-Tamugan watershed, while not really well-known, has recently been in the limelight due to the attention given to its surface waters. As a sub-watershed area belonging to the main Davao River Basin, the watershed area is located in the Baguio District and adjacent to the Talomo-Lipadas Watershed, which is currently the source of Davao’s drinking water. In the late 1990s, faced with the problem of dwindling ground water in the aquifers of Talomo-Lipadas, the Davao City Water District (DCWD) sought other viable sources of drinking water in the region to allow the aquifers to recharge.
The Biodiversity of Davao’s Watersheds
DAVAO CITY – In the olden days, Bagobos living in Davao’s watersheds look to the limokun, the white-eared brown Philippine dove, for omens. In indigenous folklore, the limokun is believed to be a spirit messenger, a harbinger of doom or fortune. For Filipino ornithologists, however, the limokun occupies a more mundane status, albeit a very important one, since the dove is a Philippine endemic, which means that it can be found only here in Philippine watersheds. However, like most endemic species, the limokun’s survival is at stake since its habitat, which is found in lowland dipterocarp forests along the watershed, is fast vanishing due to various threats. In 2012, watershed advocacy group Interface Development Interventions, Inc. (IDIS) commissioned wildlife biologists from the Philippine Eagle Foundation (PEF) to conduct a biodiversity assessment on two of Davao’s important watersheds, the Talomo-Lipadas (TL) and Panigan-Tamugan (PT) watersheds, which are the current and future sources of the city’s drinking water. “The watersheds, essentially, are a center for endemism.”, said PEF Conservation Director Jayson Ibanez who said that his team was able to document 171 vertebrate species, mostly endemic, which are living in the dipterocarp forests found in the lowland areas. 28 of these species are categorized as threatened and near threatened, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).