BACOLOD CITY – The Negros Occidental provincial government is eyeing to collect an environmental fee from tourists as part of the financing solutions for local biodiversity conservation and sustainable environmental protection projects. The initiative is among the areas of cooperation identified in the memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the province and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Philippines with support from the Biodiversity Finance Initiative (BIOFIN) Project. As of Thursday, various activities have been outlined where the cooperation would be pursued, following the signing of the MOU on July 6. Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson thanked the UNDP Philippines and BIOFIN Global for their trust and confidence. ‘I’m confident that the collaboration will bring good things for Negros Occidental,’ he added. BIOFIN, which has been working with various local government units (LGUs) since 2016 to mainstream biodiversity in local plans and programs, will assist Negros Occidental in generating revenues through ecotourism by piloting an ecological fee that will be charged to tourists visiting the province. Based on the MOU, an environmental fee system, comprising the tourism and ecological fee, will be developed for the LGUs. Negros Occidental logged 510,022 tourist arrivals in 2022, higher than the target of only 350,000 for the whole year, data from the Provincial Tourism Division showed. The figures also showed a more-than-60-percent increase compared to the tourist arrivals in 2021. The cooperation between Negros Occidental and UNDP mainly aims to increase biodiversity financing for projects and programs aimed at the conservation and use of biological diversity on the island of Negros, as well as establish access and synergy with national government agencies to advance biodiversity conservation. Areas also include the implementation of gender-related programs in biodiversity financing and other activities identified in the Negros Island Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan of Negros Occidental. In a statement, Selva Ramachandran, UNDP Philippines resident representative, said their vision is to ‘bridge the financing gaps for provincial biodiversity targets.’ The UNDP envisions the partnership with the province to address biodiversity threats at the LGU level, enhance conservation efforts, and promote sustainable tourism that would benefit communities, he added. Through a collaboration with the UNDP, BIOFIN, the Philippine Biodiversity Conservation Foundation, Inc., and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the province will be able to identify, access, combine, and sequence sources of biodiversity funding, such as those from the national and sub-national government agencies and the private sector. Negros Occidental will also be provided with assistance to access the trust fund created under the Energy Regulation 1-94 program, which intends to recompensate for the contribution made by the communities hosting energy resources and energy-generating facilities. (PNA)
Source: Philippines News Agency