Environment

Forestry

Forest protection areas, particularly the mangroves, play a pivotal role in the sustainability of the municipality’s forest ecosystem and the adaptability for climate change. Most mangroves can be found along the coast and the lower river basins of the coastal barangays of Barra, Taboc, and Luyong Bonbon and also a few at Igpit, Malanang, and Patag. This existing forest protection area covers 1,139.8294 hectares or 5.8266 % of the municipal land area. The protection areas are majorly located at the hinterland barangays; and it is also noteworthy that the 1993 proposed area for swamps and marshlands of 82.63 hectares, which is classified under the forest protection, is now only 36.38 hectares. The 36.38 hectares or approximately 3.1917 % is found in the urban barangays, more specifically at barangay Barra near the fishponds, Igpit and Taboc along the Bungcalalan Creek and also at Luyong Bonbon; and the remaining 96.8083 % or 1,103.4494 hectares of the forest protection is in the rural areas. The main reason for the decrease of the forest protection areas in the urban barangays is the encroachment of informal settlers to the aforementioned areas.

Also, we are continuously maintaining our Makaluesa Reforestation Project located at Makaluesa, Patag, Opol pursuant to Municipal Ordinance No. 2007-11, an area consisting of 36 hectares with more or less 7,569 surviving planted trees.

A series of mangrove planting and monitoring activities in our Marine Sanctuary area at Brgy. Luyong Bonbon have resulted to 3,301 propagules that have survived.

 

River/Sea Protection

We have an increase in the participation and collaborative effort by the different agencies and sectoral groups of the for our Coastal Clean Up Drives/Linis Dagat Program and Adopt- An- Estero Project.

 

Solid Waste Management

The municipality has an existing two-hectare landfill located at Maapo, Patag, Opol with an appropriate area of 13.25 hectares that represents .00677% of the general land area. It has an actual waste area of 9,818.05 sq. m. with an elevation of 300m above sea level. The collection of household wastes started in 2001 and covers 6 coastal barangays namely Barra, Igpit, Taboc, Poblacion, Bonbon, and Luyong Bonbon.

In the year 2013 report of the MENRO shows the frequency of solid waste collection increased at an average of 212 cubic meter per day and 2,500 cubic meters per year. The procurement of additional brand new heavy equipment such as five (5) units 4×4 Dump Trucks, one (1) unit Loader, one (1) unit Grader, one (1) unit Vibratory Compactor, and one (1) unit Excavator support in the proper collection and disposal management of solid wastes.

Aside from that, environmental projects  such as clean-up activities, tree planting programs, and industrial inspection and monitoring are regularly done to improve the solid waste management of the municipality.

 

Stray Animals Protection Program

We have conducted “Dakop-Iro,” a joint effort with the Barangays on the implementation of Municipal Ordinance No. 2016-13 on Stray Animals that resulted to the captivity of 312 stray dogs.