TUGUEGARAO CITY: To commemorate World Wetlands Day on Thursday, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Region 2 (Cagayan Valley) spearheaded the planting of 600 bamboo and native tree seedlings.DENR-2 Regional Executive Director Gwendolyn Bambalan said the activity against global wetlands degradation was anchored on the theme 'It's Time to Restore Our Wetlands.''The tree-growing activity was a response to revive the degrading wetlands globally as reported by the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance,' she said.The DENR also noted that among the growing areas include the National Greening Program sites, protected areas or forest reserves and 14 legislated wetland areas in the region.In addition to the tree growing, volunteers also conducted cleanup drives along wetlands and riverbanks with 30 sacks of waste materials collected.Forester Robert Rivera, superintendent of the Peñablanca Protected Landscape and Seascape Protected Area, said 'planting trees helps revive our wetland areas including the various flora and fauna thriving in these water bodies.''These wetlands are of great importance not only to biodiversity but also in mitigating the effects of climate change,' he added. 'These wetland areas help in controlling global temperature.' Rivera said the water level in some wetland areas have been reduced due to siltation caused by soil erosion that are attributed to illegal forest activities such as kaingin.Senior ecosystems management specialist Emerlyn Daliong of the provincial environment and natural resources office in Cagayan noted the need to mainstream wetlands conservation to generate support from stakeholders and the public as a whole.She encouraged the public to practice simple conservation efforts such as proper solid waste management that are linked to making wetland areas free from pollution or contamination. 'We should speak for our wetlands and do something to conserve the remaining resources we have,' Daliong said.Carolyn Annang-Tumamao, DENR Region 2 information officer, said information, education and communication campaigns were conducted in schools and local government units (LGUs) to generate public support for preserving the wetlands.She said field offices also distributed over 300 native tree seedlings to commemorate the World Wetlands Day. The Department of Agriculture, the Philippine National Police, LGUs, teachers and students, people's organizations, and other partners in the private sector also joined the tree-planting activity.
