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Early flight. (In photo): An egret is seen taking-off beside a young indigenous tree along Kalinawan River’s adopted area. Migratory egrets come to Kalinawan to feed in its rich natural environment that is abundant with various river species.
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A community volunteer plants one of 450 seedlings along the river, bringing the cumulative effort to a total of 2,200 trees – or an average of 76 trees per kilometer under AMVI’s adopt-a-river program.
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Tribal and Non-Tribal local community volunteers join AMVI Employees in supporting TreeVolution – a massive tree-planting activity spearheaded by the DENR in September 2015.
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A green legacy. TVIRD’s satellite nursery in Canatuan, Siocon Municipality maintains a significant inventory of seedlings and has planted and grown 416,000 trees in its 508-hectare MPSA. The company also cultivates bamboo seedlings that are planted along riverbanks downstream from the mine site in order to avoid soil erosion.
AMVI re-vegetates river banks to protect Caraga Region’s cleanest inland body of water
Tubay, Agusan del Norte / March 2014 – Making good on its ongoing commitment for the care and protection of the 29-kilometer Kalinawan River – and to underscore the significance of Earth Day’s 45th anniversary in the coming month – Agata Mining Ventures Inc. (AMVI) stepped-up its efforts to enhance the natural foliage along the tributary’s riverside community of Barangay La Paz in Santiago, which is one of three municipalities covered by the company’s mining concession area. Employees, barangay council members and other local officials planted some 450 seedlings along the river, bringing the cumulative effort to a total of 2,200 trees – or an average of 76 trees per kilometer under AMVI’s adopt-a-river program.
Kalinawan River is the only outlet of the 17-hectare Lake Mainit, which is a renowned eco-tourism area. The river traverses the municipalities of Jabonga, where Lake Mainit is located, towards Santiago and Tubay, then eventually flows out to Butuan Bay. It likewise traverses the communities living within AMVI’s 4,995-hectare Mineral Processing Sharing Agreement (MPSA) area in the three municipalities.
Celebrated in 192 countries including the Philippines, Earth Day engages 22,000 partners worldwide in an environmental movement hinged on education, public policy and consumer campaigns. Parallel to this, AMVI regularly conducts information, education and communication programs to engage its communities in resource conservation and environmental protection.
To date, the company also continues to engage the local government units, particularly the barangays, in the regular upkeep of the program. Quarterly inspection and monitoring activities are jointly conducted by AMVI’s environment team and local barangay officials.
Community engagement
Seeing the environmentally-critical locale of the river, an innovative program to assist the government in attaining fresh water and protecting the river bank was earlier introduced by AMVI though its joint venture partner, MRL Nickel Philippines Inc. The company’s adopt-a-river program is geared towards establishing soil erosion control measures to prevent river siltation issues and to develop the river itself as a center for eco-tourism.
Since its launch on Earth Day 2009, the program has been expanded to include the indigenous community’s participation. Also since then, the proponents fostered community empowerment, generated livelihood through agro-forestry, and conducted clean-up drives and re-greening activities of the Kalinawan riverside, particularly the portions of Barangays Tagbuyakan, E. Morgado and Colorado.
In 2010, the company entered into a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with riverside barangays, the Community Technical Working Group of Barangay Colorado and the Department of Natural Resources (DENR) through the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office of Cabadbaran for the adoption of a portion of Kalinawan River.
A transparent obligation
Following the mandate for all private companies to partner with the DENR’s Environmental Management Bureau in assuming environmental responsibility, the company signed a MOA with the agency in 2011 to further enhance the program as a partnership to protect the river.
Together, AMVI and the DENR rolled-out strategic initiatives that include the establishment of a committee to manage all program-related activities. Both held periodic meetings with the host communities and conducted social perception surveys to raise program awareness among the locals. Agreements with landowners occupying the riverbanks were also entered into.
The adopted area was also re-surveyed and mapped-out in order to identify potential riverside zones in need of tree planting. This was followed by regular maintenance and protection of the planted seedlings, which are all supported by municipal and barangay ordinances.
To date, Kalinawan River is the cleanest inland body of water in the Caraga region and possibly the entire province of Agusan del Norte. It is one of the oldest trading routes in the Philippines and has been the indigenous Mamanwas’ fishing ground since time immemorial.
Partnerships
AMVI is currently engaged in various collaborative efforts with the DENR, including the adaption of the agency’s “Ridge-to-Reef” approach in managing its impact area. This incorporates reforesting mountainous and rolling areas while protecting coastal areas and a marine sanctuary.
Last year, AMVI supported the DENR’s TreeVolution: Greening MindaNOW – a massive tree-planting activity conducted simultaneously across six regions in Mindanao – which successfully planted 3.2 million tree seedlings, beating India for the most number of trees planted in one hour. Prior to this, and since its exploration days, the company has already planted over 100 thousand trees in its MPSA area.
AMVI is a joint venture between MRL and TVI Resource Development Philippines Inc. (TVIRD), which itself carved a ‘green’ legacy in its flagship Canatuan Mining Project. The commercial operations of Agata Mining Ventures Inc. (AMVI) marks the third successful mining project that TVIRD brought on-stream in the past 10 years.
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