Urban greening caps Women’s Month celebration

News release
March 28, 2011 

            LEGAZPI CITY - Golden Shower and Fire Trees will soon be seen teeming along Taysan Resettlement Site, Legazpi City after gender and development advocates planted scores of seedlings as Bicol Region capped the Women’s Month celebration (WMC) last Friday (March 25, 2011).

           

            Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women or CEDAW campaigners both men and women, from various government agencies did their share in the tree planting endeavor.

            Some making sure high survival rate of the seedlings, broached the bottom part of the plastic pots holding the saplings, dug deep enough and covered it well with top soil.

            “We join this event to promote awareness on gender development as well as help planting more trees to address climate change” says Crisencia Marantal, an overseas Filipino worker. Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) fielded a team of OFWs to support the urban greening last Friday. Alongside the OFWs, teachers, representatives from the local Police and Fire Bureau also made the effort to plant, and campaign for CEDAW 2011 goals.

            The Department of Environment and Natural Resources spearheaded urban greening was in tune with the national government’s National Greening Program which promotes the role of women and achieving the country’s millennium development goal of ensuring sustainable development.

NGP as a national priority program has a goal of planting 1.5 billion trees in 1.5 million hectares for the period 2011-2016. 10 percent of the NGP target will be allotted for urban greening.

            “Aside from the Magna Carta of Women and the Millenium Development Goals, 2011WMC will focus on climate change,” Elizabeth Padilla, DENR-GAD focal person explains.

The 2011 Women’s Month theme in the DENR is “Magna Carta of Women, Philippine CEDAW: In Support of Millennium Development Goal 7 (To Ensure Environmental Sustainablity)”.

Meanwhile, Environment Secretary Ramon Paje emphasized that the successful implementation of the NGP will be the agency’s major contribution to the fulfillment of this year’s theme for National Women’s Month, “Magna Carta of Women, Philippine CEDAW: In support of the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs)”. Further, monitoring of the agency’s accomplishments would consider sex-disaggregated data to determine the number of female beneficiaries or participants in the program.

According to him, the DENR has undertaken concrete initiatives in response to the three-fold challenge of gender and development (GAD), namely, the country’s commitment to the international Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women or CEDAW; compliance to Republic Act (RA) 9710 or the Magna Carta of Women; and MDG number 7, ensuring environmental sustainability.

He cited that the DENR has long been issuing tenurial instruments such as forest stewardship and land patents to female beneficiaries. He has also instructed the agency’s land management sector to include gender perspectives in the implementation of, and information campaign for, Republic Act 10023 or the Residential Free Patent Act. (JESSEL BASANTA/ PAO/PIA)