NATIONAL GREENING PROGRAM (NGP)

President Benigno S Aquino III will launch today the National Greening Program by planting the first of the 1.5 billion trees targeted under the program -- a 14-foot Narra sapling at the Heroes Park of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) along Visayas Avenue in Quezon City.

            But prior to planting the Narra sapling, Pres. Aquino will register on-line to the NGP website, becoming the first registrant to the nationwide reforestation drive that would involve all government employees, including those of local government units, students at the elementary, high school and college levels, as well as other individuals and groups from the private sector, civil society and other sectors who are willing and able to share in the responsibility of rehabilitating the country’s environment.

            On February 24, 2011, President Aquino issued Executive Order (EO) 26 declaring the implementation of the National Greening Program as a government priority program to reduce poverty, promote food security, environmental stability and biodiversity conservation, and enhance climate change mitigation and adaptation.

It mandates the DA-DAR-DENR Convergence Initiative as the Oversight Committee for the program, with DENR as the lead agency.

EO 26 supports and complements EO No. 23, an earlier directive of Pres. Aquino which bans logging in natural and residual forests, as well as Proclamation No. 125, declaring 2011 as the National Year of Forests in the Philippines, in consonance with the United Nations declaration of the International Year of Forests, with the theme:  Forests for People.

Executive Order No. 26:

1.     The National Greening Program, as mandated by EO 26, seeks to consolidate and harmonize all greening efforts, such as the Upland Development Program, Luntiang Pilipinas, and similar initiatives of the government, civil society and private sector.

2.     It mandates the DA-DAR-DENR Convergence Initiative to be the oversight committee for the program, with DENR as lead agency.

3.    Aside from DA, DAR, and DENR, the following government agencies and institutions are likewise mandated under the EO to provide full support and assistance to the program:

·          Department of Education

·         Commission on Higher Education

·         Department of Social Welfare and Development

·         Department of Budget and Management

·         Department of Interior and Local Government

·         Department of Health

·         Department of Public Works and Highways

·         Department of Transportation and Communications

·         Department of National Defense

·         Department of Science and Technology

·         Department of Justice

·         National Commission on Indigenous Peoples

·         Technical Education and Skills Development Authority

·         Local Government Units

·         Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.; and

·         All other government agencies, instrumentalities, including government-owned and controlled corporations, state universities and colleges.

4.    The NGP will be carried out following a people-centered development framework, that seeks to achieve the following objectives:

-           Stability and productivity of watersheds

-          Improved farm level productivity and stability

-          Improved household incomes and general well-being of the people, and

-          Increased production of food crops, timber and non-timber forest products

5.    Specifically, it seeks to plant 1.5 billion seedlings in 1.5 million hectares of public lands nationwide in six years, from 2011 to 2016.  This is more than twice the government’s accomplishment for the past 25 years, of about 730,000 hectares.

6.    Of the total seedling requirements, 50% will be forest trees for production and protection purposes and the other 50% will be agroforestry species (a mix of fruit and forest trees).  Planting materials will be sourced various government agencies such as the DENR, Department of Agriculture, Department of Agrarian Reform, Department of Education, the Commission on Higher Education and local government units.

7.    Areas for planting under the program include forestlands, mangrove and protected areas, ancestral domains, civil and military reservations, urban areas under the greening plan of local government units, inactive and abandoned mine sites, and other suitable lands of the public domain.

8.    Strategies to be adopted to ensure the program’s success include the following:

Social mobilization – where all students identified by DepEd and CHED, and all government employees shall be required to plant a minimum of 10 seedlings per year, while the private sector and civil society will be encouraged to participate in the NGP; the Peoples’ Organizations shall be given the primary responsibility to maintain and protect the established plantations;

Harmonization of initiatives – all government institutions, especially DA, DAR, DENR, DepEd and CHED shall produce appropriate quality seedlings annually;

Provision of incentives - all proceeds from agroforestry plantations shall accrue to NGP beneficiary communities to address food security and poverty;  NGP beneficiary communities shall be considered in the DSWD’s Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) Program; and

Monitoring and management of database - the Convergence Initiative departments shall develop a centralized database and provide regular monitoring and timely report on the progress of NGP.

 For 2011, the target area for reforestation under NGP is placed at 100,000 hectares, to be upgraded annually to 200,000 hectares in 2012, then 300,000 hectares thereafter up to 2016, for a total of 1.5 million hectares.