Albay shows how caring for the environment can be profitable

Chris Schnabel

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Albay shows how caring for the environment can be profitable

Alecs Ongcal

The Albay Green Economy has catapulted the province into the center of the Philippine tourism boom says it governor

MANILA, Philippines – Adopting a culture of going green is crucial to sustainable development and is also a very effective path to economic development, according to Albay Governor Joey Salceda.

“The mindset of adapting to nature is part of the culture of sustainable development. Before it was a whole-of-government approach to it, then it became a whole-of-society approach, then a whole-of-economy and engaging the private sector. Now its a whole-of-environment approach,” Salceda said at the sidelines of the 2015 Innovation +SocialGood summit held in Pasay City on Saturday, September 26.

The most tangible effect of this new approach is the province’s transformation into an environmental and tourism powerhouse through the “The Albay Green Economy” program.

The initiative has proven so successful that the United Nations has nominated the whole of the Albay biosphere for inclusion as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

It centers on charting a path to resilient development that focuses on nurturing a low-emission, inclusive, and empowering environment around the province.

The plan came about as a way to lift Albay’s residents up by creating jobs and opportunities through tourism, Salceda explained.

“I couldn’t rely on the national government to spur income growth, and so I looked around and realized that tourism presented the best way to develop horizontal growth. Tourists in the country are drawn to green destinations, so we really put our hearts and minds into developing our green credentials,” he said.

Going Green

In line with the green part of the initiative, Albay has already achieved one of the major goals of the program: increasing its forest cover by 88% in 7 years, from an initial 26,000 hectares of forest land to 44,000 hectares today.

The province also has seen a substantial increase in its mangroves, from 700 hectares of mangrove forests when the program was launched to 2,400 hectares today.

Salceda shared that the local government has identified an additional 700 hectares, which it plans to develop along the coast to create beach forests.

The additional natural resources have also helped improve the province’s agriculture, enabling Albay to be self sufficient despite two severe typhoons, Reming and Milenyo, that both hit the area in 2006.

Despite these weather disturbances Albay has increased its rice production from 147,291 metric tons (MT) in 2008 to 228,042 MT in 2014 through proper use of water resources, the governor shared.

This has boosted its self-sufficiency ratio, the difference between total production and consumption, to 104% last year from the 74% recorded in 2008.

It also boasts 4 major watersheds managed actively in a joint-venture with the Department of the environment and Natural Resources (DENR) along with a coalition of environmental organizations.

The province is also a hotbed of renewable energy, which it draws on for all of its energy needs while exporting the surplus. Albay contributes 300 megawatts (MW) of geothermal energy to the national grid with a potential of 350 MW more.

The recent UNESCO nomination also bodes well for Albay’s natural environment as it comes with a set of environmental requirements that the province has committed to following, Salceda said.

TOURIST DRAW. Perhaps Albay's most famous landmark Mount Mayon now has an 8 kilometer buffer zone around it for safety as part of UNESCO's requirement. Governor Salceda shared the the local government is using that buffer zone to create more forest cover as trees will be protected from being trampled on there. File Photo by Eleazar Cuela/Rappler

Drawing nature and adventure lovers

All these have been felt by Albayanos, primarily with the huge influx in tourism, with nearly 1 million people visiting last year alone.

“Albay has risen to be at the center of the Philippines tourism boom, with… foreign arrivals now at 324,332, of which 300,000 were added from 2010-2014,” Salceda shared.

In 2006, the province attracted just 8,700 foreign tourists.

This is coupled with the 634,559 domestic tourists who visited the province, famous for Mayon Volcano, last year.

The green initiatives, the governor pointed out, has also created new activities for the new arrivals.

“More water from our aquifers feeding our rivers is allowing river rafting and sustaining our waterfalls, while more breeding ground for food fish has attracted 150 dolphins for the past 6 months [as well as] more butandings (whale sharks),” he shared.

Ingrained into the culture

Albay’s transformation and its effective stewardship of the environment has not gone unnoticed, with the province winning numerous national awards in recent years.

Some of the recognitions garnered include being named the best Province of the Philippines in Good Governance from 2010-2013 by the DILG, and Galing Pook awards for Disaster Risk Reduction (2009), Health Strategy Towards the Millenum Development Goals (2011), and Humanitarian Resistance (2015).

Salceda attributed Albay’s transformation to the strong sense of community that has developed in Albay and that has taken caring for the environment to its heart.

The governor shared that Lorenzo Tan, Vice chair of advisory board of  the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF), recently observed that stepping into Albay from other provinces was like entering a different world where the environment and laws protecting it are held in the highest regard.

“To my mind, that  shows that the attitude of adapting to the environment has really been ingrained here in Albay,” Salceda said. – Rappler.com

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