SAN FERNANDO CITY, Pampanga, Philippines — The Department of Environment and National Resources (DENR) here reported that the national government has allotted an additional P100 million this year for forest management programs.

The said amount will be earmarked for various livelihood projects of Peoples Organizations (POs) who are beneficiaries of its Community-Based Forest Management (CBFM) program, the DENR said.

The program is part of the initiatives of the DENR to plant some 1.5 billion trees covering about 1.5 million hectares for a period of six years up to 2016 in lands of public domain.

The project will include forestlands, mangrove and protected areas, ancestral domains, civil and military reservations and urban areas that needed to be reforested.

DENR said that under the program, a management agreement is entered between the government and the upland communities which has a term of 25 years and renewable for another 25 years.

The communities will be represented by POs.

The program will be handled by the soon-to-be established CBFM office to be supervised by Undersecretary for Field Operations Ernesto Adobo, DENR added.

DENR said it has set several criteria for Pos before they can become beneficiaries.

“The first 100 peoples’ organizations to pass the criteria set by the CBFM office will be the recipients of the livelihood assistance.

Those who will not be able to make it this year need not worry as the conferment of grants will be part of the annual DENR budget until 2016,” DENR Secretary Ramon Paje said.

He added that as forest managers, the PO’s both have the responsibilities and benefits to occupy, enrich, protect and utilize portions of forestlands granted to them.

Latest figures from DENR show that around 1,790 upland communities have been awarded with CBFM agreements with a total of 1.6 million hectares of managed forestlands.

Paje noted that “CBFM PO’s not only contribute in the protection of our forests as they are also active partners in the vegetative growth of the upland areas in consonance with the National Greening Program (NGP).”

The NGP was created under Executive Order No. 26 of President Aquino to pursue sustainable development for poverty reduction, food security, biodiversity conservation, and climate change mitigation and adaptation.