DENR To Present Boracay Environmental Master Plan

By Venus G. Villanueva

Boracay beach with coconut palm trees which are affected by Brontispa.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is ready to present its recently-crafted Environmental Master Plan of Boracay Island.
According to Derlito Rico, Environment Management Specialist of the DENR, Kalibo, Aklan the master plan is set to be presented soon to Boracay Island’s stakeholders, local government officials and other concerned individuals jointly, they could harmonize and integrate their plans and vision for the sustainability and preservation of the island resort.
Rico said the crafting of the Environmental Master Plan for the island was an offshoot of DENR Secretary Lito Atienza’s moratorium order on the unabated and unregulated construction activities in the island.
The Boracay Environmental Master Plan is drafted by a Technical Working Group created by the regional office of the DENR, according to Rico. The master plan covers all areas of Boracay Island - its forest lands, protected areas, coastal zone, the beach front, and others.
With the crafting and the scheduled presentation to the public of the master plan, the DENR in Kalibo, Aklan is optimistic that zoning regulations in the construction of establishments will be observed by owners as implemented by local officials of Malay, Aklan.
“Political will in the implementation of ordinances and laws in the island is very urgent in order to preserve and save Boracay Island, the goose that lays the golden eggs for Aklan and for the country,” Rico stressed.

PCA: Boracay Not Free From Brontispa,

On the other hand, Brontispa is still menacing coconut trees in Boracay. This is a coconut leaf beetle that has been ravaging coconut and palm trees in Boracay Island and in other parts of Luzon. However, the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) in Kalibo, Aklan has denied the news as the coconut pest has been contained in the island.
By being contained, PCA Provincial Officer Plevy Raco confirmed the dreaded coconut pest’s infestation is still confined in the island. It has not reached mainland Aklan yet.
The Bronstispa is an invasive pest introduced to the country, presumably in early 2004 via importation of ornamental palms. It causes great damage to seedlings and mature coconut trees and ornamental palms thereby killing the young spears and eventually the whole tree.
Raco said, Boracay Island has more or less 22,000 coconut trees. Of these, some 10,100 had been treated while 12,000 remain unaffected. However, the PCA observed that although there are coconut trees that have recovered from the infestation, they also saw that the infestation keeps recurring, so they have decided to treat all the coconut trees in the island.
The PCA also revealed that some 6,000 ornamental palms in the island were also treated with recurrence observed. Because of this, the PCA has advised resort owners to spray their ornamental palms every 15 days to rid their plants of Brontispa.
“We have noticed that when ornamental palms are sprayed with Karate (a pesticide), the Brontispa could be controlled. Boracay Regency Hotel’s ornamental palms remain green and healthy because they spray their palms regularly unlike those from other resorts,” Raco said.
Morever, spraying the trees with pesticide, the PCA has also released some 6,000 earwigs to help control the Bronstispa population through biological means.
The earwig is a black insect that eats the eggs of the Brontispa. The earwigs, distributed at 10 per coconut tree in Boracay were sourced from the provinces of Negros Occidental and Capiz, besides Aklan.
Considering that the Brontispa infestation keeps recurring, the PCA expects that the pest eradication in the island will take some time. PCA’s and other concerned agencies’ war against Brontispa has been waged since August of last year.
The provincial government of Aklan has been coordinating also with concerned agencies to keep the coconut pest from reaching mainland Aklan, because once the coconut trees in the mainland get infested, many small coconut farmers as well as budding coconut-based industries in the province will be affected. /MP