DAVAO CITY – This year’s Watershed Summit will review various reforestation initiatives in Davao City, an environmental group said.
Interface Development Interventions (Idis) Director Ann Fuertes said there have been a lot of reforestation activities conducted by various stakeholders along the watersheds.
“Now, its time for us to view how far we’ve reached in terms of whether we have been able to reforest our uplands in order to protect our water sources,” said Fuertes who also sits in the Watershed Management Council (WMC) as a member.
Fuertes said that this year’s emphasis on the impact of local reforestation efforts is aimed at providing the Watershed Management Council “a consolidated overview of the watershed rehabilitation areas as well as a venue to share ideas and lessons on forest restoration.”
Fuertes said they aim to present a GIS map “which will plot the size and extent of reforestation areas in the watersheds”.
“With this map, WMC will be able to facilitate better leveraging of resources and promote more effective watershed rehabilitation and management efforts among stakeholders,” she said.
The map, Fuertes said, will also present an accurate picture of areas where there is still a need for rehabilitation “to avoid duplication of efforts”.
Around 150 stakeholders will attend the Summit, which will be hosted by the University of Mindanao, on June 26-27, 2015.
