Building the ‘green wall’ of Ilocos Norte

By Leilanie G. Adriano

Staff reporter

Laoag City—If the People’s Republic of China has its famous great wall, the Provincial Government of Ilocos Norte also wants to have its own wall—green wall—to secure the future against flash floods and soil erosion.

Estrella Sacro, head of the re-greening program of the Ilocos Norte provincial government said they are now on the process of identifying an ideal public lot where they could set up a bigger a provincial nursery for the said purpose.

Backed by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) provincial environment and natural resources officer Juan delos Reyes has already initiated at least 7,000 hectares worth P60 million as counterpart for the green wall project.

Mapping out the green wall project of Ilocos Norte covering major sources of water in Ilocos Norte particularly in the municipalities of Solsona, Marcos, Nueva Era, Dingras, Vintar and the cities of Batac and Laoag City, Mr. Delos Reyes said at least 4,000 hectares were initially surveyed by field personnel of the DENR in addition to the existing tree planting projects as part of the National Greening Program.

“We hope to identify more areas especially near our watersheds and dams,” Mr. Delos Reyes said.

Since 2011, he said that the green wall of Ilocos Norte may now be reflected by the DENR’s massive re-greening program if all the tree saplings planted about three years ago were sustained up to this date.

Earlier, Ilocos Norte Governor Ma. Imelda “Imee” R. Marcos urged all local government units here to support the green wall of Ilocos Norte to ensure a long-term protection of dams and irrigation facilities including sustainable management of watershed areas.

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