DAVAO CITY – Environmental advocates called for conservation efforts to protect the city’s urban biodiversity after a City Environment and Natural Resources (Cenro) survey of urban parks and forests here reveals signs of neglect and misuse among trees growing in the metropolis.
The Interface Development Interventions, Inc. (IDIS), in a statement, said the city should also expand local conservation efforts to include the trees in city parks because they help “cool down temperatures, reduce noise and air pollution and minimize urban flooding”.
IDIS Executive Director Ann Fuertes said urban parks also provide mini-habitats for animals, especially birds.
The 2015 Cenro Urban Biodiversity Study reveals “the lack of silvicultural maintenance of trees/plants in the urban areas of the city”. It also points out that some trees in the park and other areas of city were used as structural posts for power and communication lines, which could endanger the public.
“We should be cognizant of the need to save these trees and even plant more of them, in face of the ongoing massive urban development that the city is undergoing. Green spaces are the city’s lungs. We need more of that here,” Fuertes said.
Fuertes also noted the absence of ocal laws or ordinances that would ensure the protection and maintenance of urban flora. “We have national laws like PD 953, which among other things, penalizes the unauthorized cutting and destruction of trees along subdivisions, parks and roads, but it is not being implemented. Perhaps, it is time that the city considers a local ordinance to better manage its urban green spaces,” she said.
The Cenro urban biodiversity study focuses on six areas in the city including People’s Park, Dacudao Avenue, Buhangin-Bajada flyover, Magsaysay Park, Roxas Avenue and the Rizal, Quezon Centennial and Osmena Parks.
