PALO, Leyte, Oct. 17 (PIA) -- The Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Eastern Visayas is set to host the first National Peatland Summit and Mission Review on October 24-25, 2012 at the Leyte Oriental Hotel in Palo, Leyte. 

DENR Regional Executive Director Manolito Ragub said this is in line with the implementation of ASEAN- International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)/Global Environment Fund project on the Rehabilitation and sustainable Use of Peatland Forests in Southeast Asia or the ASEAN Peatland Forest Project. 

The Peatland Summit, RED Ragub said, will be attended by members of the National Project Implementation Committee and Technical Working Group, Local Level working Committees and stakeholders from the two pilot sites, Leyte Sab-a Basin Peatlands and Agusan Marsh Peatlands, and officials from the DENR Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau, Central Office and DENR Regional Office 8. 

Moreover, the representatives of the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD), ASEAN Secretariat and Global Environment Center will join the Project Supervision Mission on October 25 and the October 26 site visit to and community interaction with the people in the pilot site barangays in Leyte Sab-a Basin Peatland located in the municipalities of Alang-alang and Santa Fe, in the Province of Leyte. 

The Leyte Sab-a Basin Peatlands is one of the two pilot sites in the Philippines component of the ASEAN Peatland Forest Projects, Ms. Cora Makabenta, the project focal person of DENR-8, said. 

The project is aimed at raising awareness, capacity building, enhanced interagency cooperation and implementation of small community-led project to ensure the protection and conservation of remaining peatlands in the Leyte Sab-a Basin pilot site. 

Sorjan Farming is used as diversified farming system around the peatlands of the Leyte Sab-a Pilot site. 

The two-year project is now in its last year of implementation and will terminate at the end of 2012. (PIA-8)