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Scenic Lake Sebu eyed for eco-tourism dev’t
Source: Manila Bulletin
Author: By Allen V. Estabillo
Date: 2004-10-28
 
GENERAL SANTOS CITY (PNA Features) – The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has chosen the scenic Lake Sebu town in South Cotabato as the focal areas for the country’s eco-tourism development program over the next decade.





DENR Secretary Elisea Gozun said Lake Sebu’s extensive watershed forest reserve would be developed to become one of the country’s major eco-tourism destinations in Southeast Asia by the year 2012.



Also tapped for the program are the Bohol protected areas, the Hundred Islands National Park in Pangasinan and the Mayon Volcano National Park in the Bicol region.



Secretary Gozun bared this plan as the DENR takes over the leadership of the National Eco-tourism Development Council from the Department of Tourism.



The NEDC is a national policy making body created in 1999 to develop a national eco-tourism strategy and programs that would promote and develop eco-tourism in the country.



Gozun, who is now NEDC chair, said the country’s eco-tourism program will shift its focus "to mainstreaming deeper involvement by concerned local communities in developing sustainable ecotourism products."



She said this is part of Phase 2 of the Philippine National Eco-tourism Strategy (PNES), a 12-year comprehensive management plan for eco-tourism development in the country.



"As part of the PNES framework, we will launch efforts that would engender a community based approach to develop ecotourism in the four protected areas," Gozun said in a statement.



South Cotabato Gov. Daisy Avance Fuentes has expressed support to the DENR’s move saying it complements the province’s five-year rehabilitation and development plan for Lake Sebu which is home to three scenic lakes.



In 2002, South Cotabato created the Lake Sebu Rehabilitation and Development Council and allocated some R3.3 million to backstop the rehabilitation and development efforts for the town’s lakes – Lahit, Sebu and Seloton – which were then threatened by their deteriorating environs.



Last year, the provincial government completed the initial phase of the rehabilitation of 24 hectare Lake Lahit which almost disappeared due to the outgrown of water lilies.



"Now, we have fully rehabilitated Lake Lahit and we are focusing our efforts on maintaining its present state through the help of local communities," Fuentes said.



The governor said they have also started to plant mahogany and durian trees along Lakes Lahit and Sebu’s shores.



Fuentes also committed to appropriate funds to set up a floating restaurant and a trading center for products of the area’s native T’bolis.



Lake Seloton is now a pilot area in the region for a R30 million joint project co-managed by the provincial government and the European Union-funded Upland Development Programme.



Aside from these efforts, Fuentes said the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources also augmented the lakes’ fish stocks by releasing 50,000 additional tilapia fingerlings early this year.



BFAR also launched a conservation program of the aquaculture resources which was patterned after the conservation program of the Kapatagan Lake in Palawan, a "hall of famer" in the annual nationwide search for the cleanest inland bodies of water.



Gozun stressed that the promotion of sustainable eco-tourism development requires the cooperation of concerned government agencies and allied sectors involved in the tourism industry for effective environmental management, conservation of cultural heritage, restoration and maintenance of unique natural destinations and people’s participation.



She noted that local communities have the final responsibility in managing and taking care of their own areas because their interest are at stake.



"The local people are the most important group that should take part in tourism management at every level – province, districts and sub districts. If the local people lack knowledge and understanding of tourism management, it is unlikely that sustainable tourism will be achieved," Gozun added. (PNA Features)



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