Sunday, September 13, 2020

‘City of Flowers’ gets U.S. donation

Posted to the Mindanao Examiner (Sep 13, 2020): ‘City of Flowers’ gets U.S. donation

THE PROTECT WILDLIFE Project - a partnership between the United States and the Philippines - donated complete sets of computer equipment to the local government in an effort to further boost environmental and fishery protection in Zamboanga City, whose moniker is “City of Flowers” because of its greenery.


City Hall photo shows Dr. Reynaldo Navacilla, Field Site Manager of USAID Protect Wildlife Project, posing with Mayor Beng Climaco, City Admnistrator Apple Go and OCENR chief Rey Gonzales and OCA representatives. 

The donation was coursed recently through the Office of the City Environment and Natural Resources (OCENR) and the Office of the City Agriculturist (OCA), according to Mayor Beng Climaco, who thanked the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

The equipment will help in the daily operations of OCENR and OCA in maintaining their data base intended for recording, retrieving and analysing data related to apprehensions, seizures and other information related to enforcing environmental and fishery laws here.

Dr. Reynaldo Navacilla, Field Site Manager of USAID Protect Wildlife Project, handed over the donation - including environmental plans that were developed in partnership with the local government and technical assistance from the USAID – to Climaco, who was joined by City Administrator Apple Go, OCENR chief Rey Gonzales and OCA representatives.

The documents included the Zamboanga City Central Mangroves Framework, Ayala Watershed Management and Development Plan and Manicahan Watershed Management and Development Plan, Zamboanga City Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan and the Environment Code of the City of Zamboanga.

The P1.2-billion, five year, Protect Wildlife biodiversity conservation project was launched in March 2017 by the U.S. government through USAID which partnered with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and aims to help protect and manage the country’s diverse habitats and species.

The project is also designed to address biodiversity loss and illegal wildlife trade in some of the most vibrant and vulnerable ecosystems in the country. And it uses a comprehensive strategy that combines technical assistance for government and civil society partners, partnerships for conservation financing, behavior change campaigns and social marketing, science and technology, and environmental law enforcement.

This holistic approach promotes partnership among environmental stakeholders and empowers those best positioned to address biodiversity loss and the illegal wildlife trade.

Aside from Zamboanga City, the provinces of Tawi-Tawi and Palawan, which host some of the most bio-diverse habitats and unique species in the country, are included in the project because they are also exposed to various human-induced threats such as poaching and trafficking of wildlife, destructive fishing practices, and loss of habitats from widespread conversion of forests, wetlands, and mangroves to settlements and agricultural lands. (Zamboanga Post)

http://mindanaoexaminernewspaper.blogspot.com/2020/09/city-of-flowers-gets-us-donation.html

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