THE Department of Environment and Natural Resources has already surpassed its 2017 targets in a number of priority programs as early as October, Secretary Roy Cimatu said Thursday.
“As of October, we have already met and even exceeded our annual targets in most of the program activities, with accomplishments ranging from 100 to 138 percent,” Cimatu said in a report he submitted to Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco Jr.
The agency’s program on solid waste management topped the list of its major accomplishments at 138 percent, having assisted 321 local government units on proper closure and rehabilitation of open and controlled dumpsites within water quality management areas and the Manila Bay region, out of the original target of 233 LGUs.
He credited the accomplishment to the strict implementation of Republic Act No. 9003, or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000, as promised by Cimatu when he took over the agency from then secretary Gina Lopez last May.
At 135 percent, the agency’s program on the management and protection of protected areas and ecotourism development was its second biggest accomplishment for the year with various protected area management boards approving a total of 997 resolutions from the target of 736.
The completion rates of protected area managed and protected, blue/green brigades/volunteers engaged, and ecotourism facilities maintained and rehabilitated were 100, 108 and 103 percent, respectively.
As of September, the national greening program had a 116 percent accomplishment rate in terms of the number of persons employed —55,805 from the target of 47,981.
As regards the number of quality planting materials or seedlings, the program produced a total of 1.1 million, or 14 percent higher than its target of 980,000.
As of October, the government’s flagship reforestation program covered an area of 178,148 hectares or 93 percent of the overall target.
According to Cimatu's report, the agency's clean water program also met its targets for the year.
The accomplishment rate in terms of the number of firms monitored for compliance with the Clean Water Act was 106 percent, while the number of new esteros and water bodies was at 109 percent and the number of water quality management areas operationalized was at 100 percent.
