Dumaguete City has more forest cover now than it had 10 years ago, thanks to the Urban Forestry Management and Development (UFMD) program that the city government started in 2002, officials from the city’s Environment and Natural Resource Office said.

The city government reported that its forest cover increased from only 28 percent in 2009 to 30 percent this year, or 1,100 hectares more of land area planted with trees.

 ENRO officials attribute the increased greenery to UFMD, that the LGU continues to undertake.

UFMD Coordinator Arestio Encabo, said  “The big challenge of the UFMD program today is global warming of which the only total remedy is by planting more trees.”

Encabo also said more trees in the city will help sustain the local water supply.

Dumaguete Mayor Manuel Sagarbarria is also regulating the cutting of trees in the city, a move that saved more than ten century-old Acacia trees from being cut down.

Sagarbarria has been appealing to residents with trees in their areas to avoid cutting them. “We must all be part of the solution to the problem of global warming and climate change,” he said.*

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