DAVAO CITY — The Interface Development Interventions (IDIS) has urged the Davao City government to develop a Forest Land Use Plan to have an ecological balance in the city.
IDIS executive director Chinkie Peliño-Golle said there is a need to have a sustainable living in the city until the next generation.
“If we don’t have forests, our watersheds are not healthy anymore and if it is not healthy, there will be no enough supply of quality and quantity of water, and we are exeperiencing it right now,” she said in Monday’s Kapehan sa Davao at SM City Annex.
Golle said the forest resources in the city are already degrading that could pose danger to the city’s water supply.
“We need to maintain our forest areas and protect our watesheds and eventually in the future we will be able to solve the issues of water quality,” she said.
She said only 44,000 hectares of the 244,000 of the total area of the city belong to the urban area and the bigger part is forest land.
“If we are to maintain that Davao City is a livable city, it should be included in the whole development direction and management plan of the city,” she said.
Golle said in the city’s Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP) of 2103 there are identified forest areas but there is no management provisions which is required in developing the CLUP.
“We are hoping that we can develop it soon and implement it,” Golle added. (Armando Fenequito Jr/PNA)
