The actual number of seedlings planted through the National Greening Program (NGP) fell below the government’s target in its first three years of implementation, according to a study released by state-owned think tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies (Pids).
In the study titled "The National Greening Program: Hope for our balding forests,” by Pids Senior Research Fellows Danilo C. Israel and Maria Diyina Gem Arbo, data showed that while the goal was to plant 600 million seedlings between 2011and 2013, the program was only able to plant 397.76 million during the period.
"Specifically, the target was missed by 10.37 million seedlings in 2011, 74.4 million seedlings in 2012, and 117.45 million seedlings in 2013, indicating that the deficit in seedlings planted has been increasing during the period,” the authors said.
"Hence, based on reported seedlings planted and compared with data on areas planted, the NGP has performed less than adequately at the national level during the first three years of implementation,” they added.
Further, the study stated that past evaluation reports by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), as cited by the Commission on Audit (COA) in 2013, stated that there were no inspections made on the status of the planted seedlings under the program.
The COA, the Pids study said, lamented that the evaluation of the DENR on the NGP was focused solely on the number of hectares and seedlings planted.
Based on these reports, the COA said that while the desired survival rate of the seedlings is 85 percent, the actual survival rate of sampled seedlings in 2012 was only 61 percent.
"This performance was below the desired survival rate of 85 percent. The COA recommended that the NGP should designate personnel, even on an ad hoc basis, to undertake inspection of the NGP sites to ensure that remedial actions are undertaken and the desired survival rate is attained,” the authors said.
They recommended the need for the NGP to raise its replanting rate at the national and regional levels and for the DENR to report the survival rates of the planted seedlings.
The study also said replanting activities and other remedial measures must be conducted by the DENR to address low survival rates.
The authors said there is a need to make a complete report on the expenses made under the NGP to determine the efficiency of the program and promote transparency.//
PHL greening program falls below government’s target—Pids study
