MANILA -- Acting on the directive of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) led by Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga created the national environment and natural resources geospatial mapping tool for identifying areas for reforestation, watershed management as well as for the crafting mining policies.

In a press briefing in Malacañang, Environment Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga said the National Natural Resource Geospatial Database Office (GDO) was organized after her first meeting with the President following her appointment where environment officials made a recommendation on how to manage natural resources through establishing a physical baseline.

Yulo-Loyzaga said the geospatial database will use satellite imagery and other tools to process what are the available natural resources to account for, value, and manage properly.

Through the database office, the DENR could account for and determine the country’s river basins, watersheds, and forests.

“So, what this will do for us is it will allow us to identify saan ba ang priority in terms of forestation, reforestation, or where should be the water systems and infrastructure na dapat po ilagay natin in order to reach the most populations in need,” Yulo-Loyzaga explained.

“Aside po sa forest and water, we’re looking also at land management. May mga foreshore lease ba diyan na hindi na ginagamit for the purpose na they were established for, puwede ba iyang gamitin sa ibang purpose, for example. And of course, our mineral resources na dati nang minamapa, pero ngayon po, we’re looking at the situation of the mineral resources given certain other data.”

Aside from those uses, the database office could also aid the government in climate change mitigation and carbon dioxide sequestration from the atmosphere, according to the environment chief.

It would also be essential in flood management and soil erosion control, as well as in initiating and sustaining existing community-based livelihoods as a way of managing the country’s forest. 

“So there is a social and economic component as well na kaiba doon sa actual standing forest natin,” Yulo-Loyzaga said, adding that, by using certain software, they can anticipate how much carbon can be sequestered given the various species present in different forest covers. 

Yulo-Loyzaga said they were able to establish the geospatial database office without any additional DENR budget by just making use of the available resources in the DENR for that fiscal year. 

Currently, the DENR is looking to build more capacity and acquire the satellite imageries, processing, and software that it needs in order to continue doing its work. 

The DENR is collaborating with the Philippine Space Agency on the use and procurement of the satellite images to be used and processed by GDO, Yulo-Loyzaga said.

“But because we have a Philippine Space Agency, nagagamit po namin iyong anong mayroon sila. So, at this point, walang extra outlay ang GDO – basically tao lang ang (nilagyan ng) budget,” she added.  (PND)