Village officials of Baggao town in Cagayan province are encouraged to plant bamboo and indigenous species to protect the riverbank against further erosion.

The site is one of the priority areas for rehabilitation of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the local government due to the confluence of the Paranan River and the Agaman River which has caused severe river erosion.

This, as the Regional Build Back Better Task Force (RBBBTF) members have monitored the green-gray infrastructure already put up by the government to help protect the Cagayan River and avoid future floods.

In a statement Sunday, RBBBTF chair and DENR regional executive director Gwendolyn Bambalan, who led the inspection team in a series of monitoring over the weekend, said the task force adopted the green infrastructure mechanism that includes the planting of bamboos and indigenous species to stabilize riverbanks.

“It complements the removal of sandbars and the construction of soil and water conservation measures or the gray infrastructure,” she said.

DENR-Cagayan Valley information officer Corazon Corpuz said Bambalan also urged village officials in Minanga Sur in Lasam, Cagayan to ensure the survival of the 123-hectare bamboo plantation along Zinundungan River.

Last year, the DENR, in partnership with 14 local government units, established the 585-hectare plantation in Lasam, Gattaran, Enrile, Solana, Alcala, Amulung, Baggao, Peñablanca, Abulug, Pamplona, Sanchez Mira, Claveria, and Sta. Praxedes towns, and Tuguegarao City.

Aside from the municipality of Baggao, the towns of San Agustin and San Guillermo in Isabela, and Cabarroguis in Quirino province are also recipients of soil and water conservation projects for intensified watershed management under the Build Back Better initiatives.

The small water impounding systems in these three towns are expected to be completed in March. (PNA)