On February 9th, Japanese Ambassador Makoto Katsura signed the grant contract for the project “Promotion of Participatory Forest Management in the Critical Watershed of Nueva Vizcaya Province”. Mr. Ryosuke Kawabe, Project Manager of GLM Institute (GLMi), a Japanese NGO based in Nueva Vizcaya, also joined in the ceremony held at the Embassy of Japan in Pasay City.
The signing of the contract marked the appropriation of US$ 291,262 (approximately PhP 13.6 Million) from the “Grant Assistance for Japanese NGO Projects” under Japan's Official Development Assistance (ODA). Now on its third year of implementation, the project is expanding to include four (4) new barangays from the municipalities of Kayapa, Dupax del Sur, Santa Fe and Kasibu in Nueva Vizcaya, and is expected to benefit over 1,000 families in these areas.
The third phase of the project aims to develop, extend and expand the efforts of the first and second year activities. It has four (4) main components, namely: dissemination of sustainable upland agriculture and soil conservation techniques, expansion of water catchments management areas and community irrigation system, marketing exploration, and material development for environmental education. Aside from the construction of new compost stations and additional community irrigation systems, the project involves the training of Local Government Unit (LGU) personnel and barangay/farmer leaders to further develop their capacities on sustainable upland agriculture technologies, watershed and forest management, monitoring skills, leadership, etc.
This is in line with Japan's ongoing commitment to help strengthen the Philippines' efforts in the preservation of forest resources through its Community-Based Forest Management Program. Japan's support to the Philippine forestry sector is focused on the establishment and enhancement of sustainable forest management through various projects such as the Forestry Sector Project through Japanese ODA loans and technical cooperation through JICA, among others.
The Grant Assistance for Japanese NGO Projects was launched in 2002 to enhance cooperation between the Government of Japan and Japanese NGOs in the implementation of ODA to promote effective and efficient aid for developing countries.
Japanese Version
