DENR intensifies Bicol National Park protection

LEGAZPI CITY -- The Bicol office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has come up with schemes to give more protection to the over-5,000 hectares forest areas of the Bicol National Park (BNP), located between Camarines Sur and Camarines Norte.

Gilbert Gonzales, DENRBicol regional executive director, said these strategies are aimed at protecting and preserving BNP from threats coming from illegal loggers, kaingin (slash-and burn) farmers and communities residing inside the park.

“These strategies will provide solutions to various issues that are besetting the BNP which is contributing to further degradation of the protected area (PA),” Gonzales said through an official statement released by his office Monday.

He said the approaches that DENR-Bicol will be adapting include strengthening of the PA personnel by supplementing manpower/ support; closely monitoring cases filed against poachers and illegal settlers; capacitybuilding workshops for field personnel (paralegal); comprehensive info campaign on the National Integrated Protected Areas System; pushing for the co-management of the protected area with the local governments; empowerment of the people’s organizations and issuance of resource utilization permit; and intensifying the implementation of “no charcoal making policy” in the BNP by patrolling and non-issuance of permit.

“Only by doing these (strategies) will we be ensuring that the BNP is wellprotected from instances of encroaching by illegal settlers” Gonzales stressed, as he quickly cited the need for the forest occupants to clear out from the protected forest.

He said they will also consider the implementation of management zoning in the PA classified as the strict protection zone and the multiuse zone.

The DENR executive explained that the strict protection zone refers to areas with high bio-diversity value, which shall be closed to human activity -- except for scientific studies and/or ceremonial or religious use by indigenous communities.

The multi-use zone, meanwhile, pertains to areas where there is settlement and traditional or sustainable land use -- including agriculture, agroforestry, extraction activities and other income-generating or livelihood activities, Gonzales explained.

He also directed Regional Technical Director Felix Mendoza, Protected Areas Wildlife and Coastal Zone Management Service head, to further study the plans for the BNP and for the provincial environment and natural resources officers of Camarines provinces to adopt initial measures of intensifying mobile patrolling and and the conduct of checkpoints along the various entry and exit points straddling the forest.

The Bicol Natural Park is a protected area with an expanse of 5,201 hectares and an elevation of 100-538 meters above sea level.

It is located in the Camarines provinces, sprawling along the towns of Basud and San Lorenzo Ruiz at the side of Camarines Norte and Lupi and Sipocot at the border of Camarines Sur. - Samuel M. Toledo