Latest in Forest Management BureauThe presence of trees in the watershed above Metro Manila is not sufficient to significantly slow floodwater from reaching the capital region, Forest Management Bureau (FMB) Assistant Director Ray Thomas Kabigting said Friday. What is needed is closed canopy forest, where trees are dense enough to…
The fundamental reason Metro Manila floods is not engineering failure or government neglect alone — it is that generations of Filipinos built their homes, roads, and commercial centers directly in the valleys, river deltas, and natural drainage paths that nature designed specifically to carry…
A closer look at why the rainfall warning came late, and why classes couldn’t have been suspended sooner There were no rainfall warnings hanging over Metro Manila in the early hours of Wednesday, September 9, even as clouds gathered thick and low across the region overnight. Then, without a single…
Philippine forest cover is improving under the Marcos administration, with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources expecting its next national forest cover analysis to show an increase of almost 2% across the country, Forest Management Bureau (FMB) Assistant Director Ray Thomas…
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has shifted the focus of its forest rehabilitation programs to headwaters and mountain peaks—the source of water that feeds downstream farming communities—rather than concentrating planting efforts in lowland areas that are easier to reach…
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