FOREST GUARDIANS. Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) Chief Minister Ahod B. Ebrahim (right) looks on as a former rebel affixes his signature to help in the campaign to protect the region's forests on Saturday (Nov. 23, 2019). Some 400 former members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front - Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces were hired as "palaws" or forest guards by the BARMM to protect its total 301,894 hectares of forest cover. (Photo courtesy of BARMM Chief Minister’s Office)
Forests in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) will now be secured by some 400 rangers who were former Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels.
On Saturday, Bangsamoro Chief Minister Ahod Balawag Ebrahim spearheaded the launching of the Integrated Bangsamoro Greening Program (IBGP) at Camp Darapanan in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao and at the same time appointed the new forest rangers.
The IBGP program was designed to reforest 10,000 hectares of open and denuded forests in the provinces of Maguindanao and Lanao Del Sur. Its implementation will begin on December 1.
Another batch of rangers will be deployed in the forest of the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi. “We need to protect our homeland because this is one of the reasons for our struggle,” Ebrahim said, adding that the region’s natural resources are for the next generation to also appreciate and safeguard.
The IBGP is one of the priority programs of the Bangsamoro government, and also forms part of its peacekeeping efforts as the package would involve the hiring of MILF - Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF) members as “palaw” (mountain) or forest rangers.
BARMM Environment Minister Abdulraof Macacua has been placed at the helm of the program's implementation. “Since we lived in the forest before and part of our duty then was to protect the environment, this program will take us back again to the forest to protect it,” Macacua said.
Also on Saturday, the 400 former Moro rebels who were not part yet of the decommissioning process signed a contract of service as forest rangers.
“That means the ‘palaws’ have yet their guns with them to guard the forests until they are fully decommissioned,” Macacua said.
Data from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources showed that as of December 2010, the region has 99,889 hectares of closed forests, another 146,431 hectares of open forests, and 55,574 hectares of mangroves for a total of 301,894 hectares of forest cover.
https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1086892
On Saturday, Bangsamoro Chief Minister Ahod Balawag Ebrahim spearheaded the launching of the Integrated Bangsamoro Greening Program (IBGP) at Camp Darapanan in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao and at the same time appointed the new forest rangers.
The IBGP program was designed to reforest 10,000 hectares of open and denuded forests in the provinces of Maguindanao and Lanao Del Sur. Its implementation will begin on December 1.
Another batch of rangers will be deployed in the forest of the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi. “We need to protect our homeland because this is one of the reasons for our struggle,” Ebrahim said, adding that the region’s natural resources are for the next generation to also appreciate and safeguard.
The IBGP is one of the priority programs of the Bangsamoro government, and also forms part of its peacekeeping efforts as the package would involve the hiring of MILF - Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF) members as “palaw” (mountain) or forest rangers.
BARMM Environment Minister Abdulraof Macacua has been placed at the helm of the program's implementation. “Since we lived in the forest before and part of our duty then was to protect the environment, this program will take us back again to the forest to protect it,” Macacua said.
Also on Saturday, the 400 former Moro rebels who were not part yet of the decommissioning process signed a contract of service as forest rangers.
“That means the ‘palaws’ have yet their guns with them to guard the forests until they are fully decommissioned,” Macacua said.
Data from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources showed that as of December 2010, the region has 99,889 hectares of closed forests, another 146,431 hectares of open forests, and 55,574 hectares of mangroves for a total of 301,894 hectares of forest cover.
https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1086892
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