TACLOBAN CITY — Calls for the preservation of the Leyte Sab-a Basin, one of the larger confirmed peatland in the country and the largest water catchment in Leyte Island, was one of the highlights during the Forest Echoes Project launch by Tinker House as the world observed World Wetlands Day on Sunday, February 2.
Government agencies led by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Department of Education (DepEd), Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and non-profit organizations such as Forest Foundation Philippines, the provincial government of Leyte, and the media were all in accord in the efforts to stop the land conversion of the Leyte Sab-a Basin Peatland.
They called for its restoration to save what is left after more than half of its vast swamp forest has been turned into agricultural use and the peatland has been found to have reduced its ability to store carbon.
A recent study by the Forest Foundation Philippines on the impact of the land-use conversion in the Leyte Sab-a Basin Peatland (LSBP) revealed that when peatlands are turned into grasslands or agriculture, their ability to act as carbon sinks is reduced. Such conversions also change the peatland on a physical and chemical level, reducing its ability to perform other functions.
Land-use conversion changes the characteristics and properties of the LSBP as the study also found that moisture and the water table decreased from forest to cultivated areas. This ability of the peatland to hold water is essential in flood mitigation. It acts as a sponge during the rainy season and then allowing the water seeps out during the dry season.
DENR 8’s Marissa Solite, chief conservation and development division, said that this ability of peatlands to be water repositories become even more critical as the Philippines experiences more and stronger typhoons.
Earlier, the DENR-8 expressed concern with the expansion of farming activities on the 3,088-hectare Leyte Sab-a Basin Peatland, the largest water catchment on Leyte Island.
Good water management techniques, such as controlled flooding, are needed to prevent peat degradation and maintain high water tables in the peatland, thus preventing peat degradation and carbon emissions, the DENR said.
Forest Foundation Philippines has recommended that there should be an impetus to develop and implement effective conservation and management plans to keep the function of the LSBP as a significant carbon sink, preserve its ecological functions and help communities adapt to climate change.
Apart from developing effective management plans, strengthening the institutional capacities, and awareness, engaging local communities in sustainable and biodiversity-friendly practices is also crucial to peatland’s conservation strategy.
(AHLETTE REYES, PIA-8)
