{"id":1035,"date":"2018-05-08T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-05-07T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/master.k8s.p4.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/press\/1035\/greenpeace-to-denr-opening-of-protected-areas-to-special-private-use-is-wrong-move\/"},"modified":"2019-11-06T17:04:56","modified_gmt":"2019-11-06T09:04:56","slug":"greenpeace-to-denr-opening-of-protected-areas-to-special-private-use-is-wrong-move","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/press\/1035\/greenpeace-to-denr-opening-of-protected-areas-to-special-private-use-is-wrong-move\/","title":{"rendered":"Greenpeace to DENR: opening of protected areas to special private use is \u2018wrong move\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"leader\">08 May 2018, Manila, Philippines \u2013 On Friday, May 4, Department of Environment and Natural Resources Sec. Roy Cimatu announced that protected areas are now open to special private use by applying for a special use agreement in protected areas, or SAPA. According to news reports, the SAPA will \u201cprovide access and economic opportunities to indigenous peoples, tenured migrant communities and other stakeholders\u201d of protected areas.\u201d[1]<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Vince Cinches, Greenpeace Southeast Asia \u2013 Philippines political campaigner, said:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGreenpeace is very concerned over this development, and we fear that this move will do nothing but open the protected areas to exploitation. Lifting the moratorium on issuance of special permits will not protect nor lift people from poverty, but rather expose our indigenous peoples to further abuse and oppression.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt present status, the utilization of some of our country\u2019s protected areas do not have a General Management Planning Strategy (GMPS), as subscribed by Rule 10 of DENR Administrative Order 2008-26[2], that is why even current protected areas are still being ravaged by destructive human activities such as mining, quarrying, fishing, farming, and general disregard for environmental protection laws. It was the reason why SAPA was suspended in the first place, because this violates the National Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS) law.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is important to note that human activities are still allowed in the identified buffer zones of protected areas, as long as these would not impair the integrity of the strict protection zone.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn some protected areas with GMPS, allowable human activities are not enumerated, because all activities are subjected to clear impact assessment. The revival of SAPA is in violation of the spirit or general objectives of the NIPAS, and will only enrich a few, worsen the current environmental problems and poverty situation in the Philippines.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe would like to remind the Philippine government that our environment is not for sale. The environment does not belong to businesses that only seek to suck it dry with profit, but rather it belongs to the future generations, according to the Oposa vs. Factoran Supreme Court decision[3] on intergenerational responsibility to a healthy and balanced ecology.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLet us not allow greed to lord over our constitutional right to a balanced and healthful environment. Our protected areas belong to the Filipino people, and we are but just stewards of this beautiful place that is our country. It belongs to the future generations that they would still have natural places to appreciate and enjoy. We owe it to our children, and we sincerely hope the DENR will remember that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Notes to the editor:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>[1] <a href=\"http:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/987731\/denr-opens-protected-areas-to-special-private-use\">http:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/987731\/denr-opens-protected-areas-to-special-private-use<\/a><br \/>\n[2] DENR Administrative Order 2008-26 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-philippines-stateless\/2019\/05\/dao-2008-26_114.pdf\">https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-philippines-stateless\/2019\/05\/dao-2008-26_114.pdf<\/a><br \/>\n[3] \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lawphil.net\/judjuris\/juri1993\/jul1993\/gr_101083_1993.html\">https:\/\/www.lawphil.net\/judjuris\/juri1993\/jul1993\/gr_101083_1993.html<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>For more information, contact:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Vince Cinches, Political Campaigner, Greenpeace Southeast Asia \u2013 Philippines<br \/>\n<a href=\"mailto:vince.cinches@greenpeace.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">vince.cinches@greenpeace.org<\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\"><!-- document.write(dc('Eoi_1', 'B6_88_D7_99_8A_D1_C4_D9_98_D3_D5_D7_D3_C6_D8_D3_D3_C4_D1_F6_C5_D3_DE_D5_D8_DF_D5_98_D3_D5_D8_DF_C0_88_94_D1_C4_D9_98_D3_D5_D7_D3_C6_D8_D3_D3_C4_D1_F6_C5_D3_DE_D5_D8_DF_D5_98_D3_D5_D8_DF_C0_8C_D9_C2_DA_DF_D7_DB_94_8B_D0_D3_C4_DE_96_D7_8A'));\/\/--><\/script> | +63 949 889 1336<\/p>\n<p>Angelica Carballo-Pago, Media Campaigner, Greenpeace Southeast Asia \u2013 Philippines<br \/>\n<a href=\"mailto:angelica.pago@greenpeace.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">angelica.pago@greenpeace.org<\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\"><!-- document.write(dc('Eoi_2', 'B6_88_D7_99_8A_D1_C4_D9_98_D3_D5_D7_D3_C6_D8_D3_D3_C4_D1_F6_D9_D1_D7_C6_98_D7_D5_DF_DA_D3_D1_D8_D7_88_94_D1_C4_D9_98_D3_D5_D7_D3_C6_D8_D3_D3_C4_D1_F6_D9_D1_D7_C6_98_D7_D5_DF_DA_D3_D1_D8_D7_8C_D9_C2_DA_DF_D7_DB_94_8B_D0_D3_C4_DE_96_D7_8A'));\/\/--><\/script> | +63 949 889 1332<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Greenpeace&#8217;s response to Department of Environment and Natural Resources Sec. Roy Cimatu announcement that protected areas are now open to special private use by applying for a special use agreement in protected areas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":2068,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"","p4_local_project":"","p4_basket_name":"","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[25,26],"p4-page-type":[14],"class_list":["post-1035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-society","tag-democracy","tag-justice","p4-page-type-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1035"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1035\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2067,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1035\/revisions\/2067"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1035"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=1035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}