by Miriam G. Desacada
Palompon Leyte–Adopting a mangrove forest for its preservation and protection is a valuable and sustainable investment for numerous environmental, social, and economic benefits from generation to generation.
This was the primal aim of the Palompon local government unit’s Adopt a Mangrove Project, which was launched on Monday (July 8) with the signing of the memorandum of agreement (MOA) with private partners for the adoption of the Duljungan-Buenavista Mangrove Forest in this town.
Palompon Mayor Ramon C. Oñate, as LGU head, led the MOA signing with partner entities: CARD MRI Financing Institution through its area manager Ariel M. Campos; the Eastern Visayas Media Without Borders organization under its president Miriam G. Desacada; and the Duljungan Paddlers Guide Association represented by Dayanita S. Dalag.
The collaborative project, dubbed as a significant milestone in environment conservation, has been designed to protect and nurture Palompon’s own wealth, the 540-hectare wide Duljugan-Buenavista Mangrove Forest (DBMF) bordering the town’s coastal areas.
The adoption project will also promote DBMF as one of Palompon’s prime tourists’ destination, which sets the so-called Kayak Avenue, a kayak paddling route that provides tourists a broader view of the forest’s scenery without intruding into it.
Raoul Bacalla, the town’s environmental consultant, added that the mangrove forest, only a few minutes ride from the world-famous Kalanggaman Island, had become a tourists’ destination. Mangrove hopping is now an exciting tourist activity using kayaks, he said.
“This MOA document that we are signing will remain a mere scrap of paper, until all of us want this to happen, and be successful. Thus, we must instill this (project) in our minds, and in our hearts that having this, or to continue this activity at Barangay Duljugan is not just good for us, but also for generations to come. If we are savoring the success of the program now, it will be happier for the next generation who will savor what we are savoring today,” Oñate said in his speech after the signing ceremony.
LGU officials added that this will further sustain the on-going coastal greenbelt initiative program of Palompon LGU with Oceana, an international organization focused on ocean conservation and marine resources protection.
Bacalla, who had been significantly active in LGU’s conceptualization of environmental protection programs, in collaboration also with tourism authorities, said mangroves provide critical habitat for a wide variety of species of shrimps, shells, crabs, and fish, besides it being the feeding site of migratory birds.
Protecting mangroves helps maintain biodiversity, said Bacalla. “One of the migratory birds’ site in Eastern Visayas is Palompon’s Tres Marias,” a group of three islets that the LGU had declared as a Marine Park and Bird Sanctuary, under the context of the LGU’s coastal resource management program (CRMP).
“From Tres Marias to Duljugan and Naungan mangrove forests, is the flyway of these migratory birds, wild ducks, frogs, shrimps, and fish that depend so much of these sites,” he said. “With this collaboration or partnership in adoption, we are sure that we sustain the integrity of this mangrove forest, as well as its wellness.”
Bacalla added: “What we really need is the assistance of the media to help us spread the concept of why the need to protect this site, why the need to adopt this. Protect, conserve, collaboration with the help of the media, the LGU, the barangay, and the community.”
He further said that the project “is the first collaboration focusing on the adoption, and help in promoting and protecting this mangrove forest. We are talking here about the whole forest, the biodiversity of this place. If we are protecting the mangroves, we are also protecting the sea grass, which had been found to be growing in area coverage.”
Barangay Duljugan Chairwoman Marivic Patalingjug, in an interview, said she is happy that this program “can help much our constituents, as additional source of income or financial support. It can also protect our mangrove, and fish, and our barangay will really benefit from the success of this program.”
Bacalla and Patalingjug, agreed with the mayor that this mangrove forest protected Palompon from the devastation of super-typhoon Yolanda in 2013. Only 30 percent of the mangroves remained intact after the typhoon, but it shielded the town from total destruction.
Since then, the Barangay Council kept on planting mangroves because they are not just a good defense for us but also for the future generations. “We hope to expand the forest and maintain it. We already have ordinances to outlaw the cutting of mangroves,” said Patalingjug, adding that these are also rich areas for fish sanctuary.
Oñate revealed that, when mangroves were still relatively foreign to many LGUs, we already focused on coastal clean-up and the planting of mangroves.
Bacalla concluded that the adoption project of mangrove forests has lasting environmental benefits and biodiversity conservation, considering that mangroves act as natural barriers against storm surges, tsunamis, and erosion, as their root systems stabilize shorelines and reduce the impact of waves.
“Mangroves save Palompon from the devastation of Yolanda,” he said. —Miriam G. Desacada