Decades-old trees along a major road in Poro town in Camotes Island in northeastern Cebu. Last April, the town’s parishioners urged the government and other concerned stakeholders to spare these trees from being chopped down to pave way for road widening projects in their locality. | Photo courtesy of Fr. Joel Bonza
CEBU CITY, Philippines – Since 2001, Cebu, home to over 5 million people and the largest economic hub outside the capital Manila, has lost thousands of hectares of tree cover.
At least 10.1 kilo-hectare, or around 10,100 hectares of tree cover in Cebu, were depleted in a span of 20 years, data from Global Forest Watch, an open-access portal that provides forestry information and data.
This is roughly the size of Bantayan Island, a popular tourist destination north of the province.
The same data from Global Forest Watch also showed the areas in Cebu that suffered the most tree loss, from 2001 to 2022.
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Cebu lost 10,000 hectares of tree cover in the past 20 years
Poro parish church urges gov’t: Don’t chop down our trees
Asturias, a third-class municipality in the northwestern side, topped the list as it lost over 1,100 hectares of tree cover in the past two decades.
It was followed by its neighbor Balamban and the capital Cebu City respectively.
On the other hand, Santander town in southern tip of Cebu island, recorded tree cover loss of only eight hectares in the same period.
Below is the complete list of tree cover loss compiled by the Global Forest Watch per town and city in Cebu.
Recently, urban planners and city development officers in Cebu City were alarmed about continuous and unregulated developments in the hinterlands. In particular, in areas within the Central Cebu Protected Landscape, a protected area spanning close to 30,000 hectares and covering at least nine localities including Cebu City.
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