SURIGAO CITY (MindaNews/21 March) – A local business group has made known its position on the still unresolved issue of whether to allow a Minahang Bayan or people’s small-scale mining area in the city’s watershed. Saying the issue is the not the miners but the financiers, Surigao Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) president Willy [...]

MALAYBALAY CITY  (MindaNews/17 March) — Provincial board member Jay Albarece has proposed an ordinance granting real property tax discounts for  lots with high density of  trees to serve as incentive to residents who have been planting and protecting trees in their own lots. “One way of encouraging private individuals and entities to actively participate in [...]

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/21 January) – Back in 1993, Bukidnon already had the Bukidnon Watershed Protection and Development Council (BWPDC), a multi-sectoral body to exercise general guidance and oversight functions relative to watershed and environmental management in the province. The council, activated through Executive Order No. 26, formulated the Bukidnon Watershed Management Framework Plan (BWMFP), which [...]

KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews/06 December)—A foreign conservation group is all set to conduct a two-month research on tarsiers, a “near threatened” species, in Mt. Matutum, South Cotabato’s landmark peak, officials said. Dr. Pierre Fidenci, president of Endangered Species International (ESI), said that a four-man team would be fielded starting December 9 to study the habitat of [...]

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/9 Feb) – At least 9,000 hectares in Region 12 or Southwestern Mindanao are targeted for reforestation this year, regional environment officials said. Alfredo Pascual, regional director of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, instructed early this week the technical research department to produce one million seedlings of forest and fruit-bearing [...]

KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews/17 December) – The municipal government of Tulunan in North Cotabato and the International Urban Training Center (IUTC) of the Republic of South Korea inked on Thursday a memorandum of understanding  for information and knowledge sharing on protecting ecology, in particular, that of Liguasan Marsh. The signing was between Tulunan Mayor Lani Candolada [...]

KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews/15 December) – Korean environment experts are holding a training here in stream ecological restoration for local officials and tourism workers in the province. Prof. Kwi-Gon Kim, executive director of the International Urban Training Center (IUTC), is the main speaker of the five-day training-workshop which ends Friday and aims to come up with [...]

KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews/1 Dec)- The World Food Program (WFP) of the United Nations has embarked on restoring the ecosystem of the Liguasan Marsh in Maguindanao through massive tree planting of indigenous species of trees. The project, according to WFP-UN deputy country director Asaka Nyangara, will help address climate change, which he said is one of [...]

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/09 December) – Government reforestation programs should stop using exotic tree species as these have gradually displaced indigenous tree species as well as the indigenous peoples, an official of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources on Tuesday said. Felix S. Mirasol Jr., DENR’s Community Environment and Natural Resources Officer for Malaybalay, said [...]

KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews/05 December) – The environment group Citizens Alliance Unified for Sectoral Empowerment in Davao del Sur (Cause-DS) on Friday launched a weeklong campaign dubbed “No Pesticides Use Week” in Digos City, capital of Davao del Sur. This year’s campaign, according to Cause-DS secretary-general Bernard Vinan, focuses on saving women and children from highly [...]

SAN FRANCISCO, Agusan del Sur (MindaNews/15 November) –  “The Church will stand up for and defend the environment if the Department of Environment and Natural Resoruces  (DENR) cannot,” Butuan Bishop Juan de Dios Pueblos said Saturday, after officiating at the mass attended by some 2,000 residents from Rosario, San Francisco and Prosperidad towns in Saturday’s [...]

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/09 November) – Biodiversity is the theme of this year’s celebration of the three-day “Aldaw ta Kitanglad” (Mt. Kitanglad Day) which started Monday, in Barangay Kibenton of Impasugong town in Bukidnon. The annual festival started in 1997, in Barangay La Fortuna of the same town. It aims to recognize the role of the [...]

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/13 October) – Parishioners from around Bukidnon will mark the 19th death anniversary on Thursday of slain priest Fr. Nery Lito Satur by planting indigenous tree species in an area dedicated to him in Barangay Patpat in this city and in other areas of the 47 parishes comprising the Diocese of Malaybalay, the [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/12 October) — Mayor Sara Duterte hinted she might change her mind with regard to the proposal of a power firm to build a coal-fired power plant to avert possible power outages and shortfall. Duterte said she is torn between protecting the environment and the possibility of power shortage in the city in [...]

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/25 September) — Ignoring their government’s advisory against visiting the Philippines, Hong Kong birdwatchers are in Davao for the 1st Asian Bird Fair, claiming they are on a mission for the environment. “Bird watching is no pure enjoyment,” said Samson So, 27, a member of the Hong Kong Bird Watching Society. “It is [...]