Eight years of German support for Philippine forests on Panay Island

By German Embassy Manila/Philippines

Tuesday, 23 January marked the successful closure of German government support provided for Panay Island under the “ForClim”, the Forest and Climate Protection in Panay Project. Running since 2010 and financed with almost 6M Euros (app. 360M Php) of German government funds, “ForClim”, aimed at helping Philippine government and municipal administrations to protect the forests on Panay and secure their rich biodiversity and to develop ways to sustainably use them. Through “ForClim” activities island dwellers were introduced to ways to better profit from their natural resources in a sustainable way while contributing to the global effort to avoid greenhouse gas emissions. Under “ForClim”, experts of German development cooperation agency GIZ and of specialist consultancy GFS teamed up with counterparts from the Philippine Department of the Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and administrations of almost two dozen municipalities on Panay. While “ForClim” ends, its results and spirit will continue to lead the future work of Philippine authorities.