RBBBTF chair calls for Cagayan River green-gray infrastructure protection

The chairperson of the Regional Build Back Better Task Force (RBBBTF) has urged local officials to protect and maintain the green and gray infrastructure implemented by the government for the rehabilitation of the Cagayan River.

 

The green infrastructure is the mechanism adopted by the task force that includes the planting of bamboos and indigenous species to stabilize riverbanks. It complements the removal of sandbars and the construction of soil and water conservation measures or the gray infrastructure.

 

In monitoring the project implementation, RBBBTF chair and Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Regional Executive Director Gwendolyn Bambalan personally requested the village officials in Brgy. Minanga Sur in Lasam, Cagayan to ensure the survival of the 123-hectare bamboo plantation along Zinundungan River.

 

Last year, the DENR in partnership with 14 local government units established a total of 585 hectares plantation in the municipalities of Lasam, Gattaran, Enrile, Solana, Alcala, Amulung, Baggao, Peñablanca, Abulug, Pamplona, Sanchez Mira, Claveria, Sta. Praxedes and Tuguegarao City.

 

Director Bambalan also conducted on-site inspection of the soil and water conservation project along Paranan River in Brgy. Dalin, Baggao town where she discussed her plans of forging a memorandum of agreement with the local chief executive to turn-over the maintenance of the facility to the barangay. She also encouraged the barangay officials to plant bamboos and indigenous species to protect the riverbank against further erosion.

 

The site is one of the priority areas for rehabilitation of the DENR and the local government due to the confluence of the Paranan River and the Agaman River which has caused severe river erosion.

 

Aside from the municipality of Baggao, the towns of San Agustin and San Guillermo in Isabela, and Cabarroguis in Quirino province are also recipients of soil and water conservation projects for intensified watershed management under the Build Back Better initiatives. The small water impounding systems in these three towns are expected to be completed in March.

 

Provincial environment chief Eliseo Mabasa and community environment and natural resources officers Aida Adap and Joselito Razon joined the project monitoring. They also visited the sandbar dredging sites in Bangag, Lal-lo and Dummun, Gattaran.#