Photo: Sarangani Province Governor Miguel Rene Domingues Inspects Fishing Boat

Governor Miguel Rene Dominguez inspects the aft of a wooden fishing vessel Monday, March 03, 2008 at the boat-making facility run by a cooperative in the village of Lumasal. The boat is built with some 27,000 board feet of common hardwood harvested from the Community-Based Forest Management (CBFM) area of LUPA (Lumasal-Pananag) Integrated Ecological Resources Multi-purpose Cooperative.

Executive Order No. 263 dated 19 July 1995 adopted the CBFM as the national strategy to ensure the sustainable development of the country's forestland resources and provided mechanisms for its implementation. Participating organized communities may be granted access to the forestland resources under long-term tenurial agreements, provided they employ environment-friendly, ecologically sustainable, and labor-intensive harvesting methods.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources shall work with local governments, people's organizations, non-government organizations, religious groups, business and industry, and other organizations to ensure that communities are empowered to initiate and achieve the objectives of EO 263.

And after the inspection, Dominguez delivers a message during a consultation with CBFM members and regional officers of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources also in the village of Lumasal. Aside from the responsibilities of the CBFM holder as stipulated in the CBFM agreement, DENR Administrative Order 2000-29 (Guidelines regulating the harvesting and utilization of forest products within Community-Based Forest Management Areas) also mandates that people's organizations granted with Resource Use Permit (RUP) ensure that the harvesting of forest products will be done in the most economical and ecological manner.

Among the safeguards to be observed by the CBFM holder is to refrain from the use of heavy equipment such as bulldozers and the like and much as possible must employ labor intensive methods of harvesting. (Mindanao Examiner / Photos by the Sarangani Provincial Information Office)