URDANETA CITY – Here’s a practical campaign to help reduce the community’s dependence on and use of charcoal sourced from kaingin.

The Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) based here and the local government jointly launched Wednesday “Sagipin ang Puno, Mag-ipon ng Diaryo”.

It aims to establish socialized fuel plantations that will provide alternative livelihood source for charcoal makers and save public forests with the proceeds of selling old newspapers.

Mayor Amadeo Perez Jr lauded the Department of Environment and Natural Resources under Leduina Co, CENRO head in this city, for this “very worthy project”.

Co, who admitted that her office has had no budget for reforestation since 2003, said the limited funds made available to her can only reforest 10 hectares every year out of the 40, 594 hectares of forest lands under her jurisdiction that covers 15 towns and this city in eastern Pangasinan.

At the same time, she deplored the unabated denudation of forest lands caused by illegal occupants encroaching the uplands, forest land clearing for agricultural purposes, charcoal making, fuel wood gathering, timber poaching, illegal cutting of trees, forest fires, siltation of major rivers and  soil erosion.

And Co said her office has only P22,000 budget to counter the ill effects and protect the forests.

She said it was these constraints that prompted her to call on all stakeholders, government and non-government officials, concerned citizens, businessmen, the academe, among others to support her fund-raising-cum-forest protection project, raising funds through sale of old newspapers for the establishment of socialized fuel wood plantation.

Co estimated that to establish a one hectare tree plantation over a three-year period, they would need P23,000.

The project aims to raise P230,000 to cover initial target of 10 hectares. Proceeds will be deposited in a bank and a non-government organization will oversee management of the funds.

To achieve this, the project must collect 46,000 kilos of old newspapers. — EVA

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