KORONADAL CITY -- The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Central Mindanao is set to complete this year the comprehensive delineation of forestlands in the mineral-rich region.

So far, the DENR-Central Mindanao has surveyed and delineated at least 2,000 kilometers of forest land boundary, regional director Raquil Ali M. Lucman said.

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"[The survey is] in line with the policy of the government to ensure protection and sustainable development of forestlands," he said.

Lucman said that surveyors are targeting to finish the remaining 25 kilometers in Sultan Kudarat and 42 kilometers in North Cotabato this year.

Sultan Kudarat province hosts Columbio town, one of the project areas of foreign-backed Sagittarius Mines Inc., which is eyeing huge copper and gold deposits also in the municipalities of Tampakan in South Cotabato and Kiblawan in Davao del Sur.

The DENR earlier launched the Forestland Boundary Assessment and Delineation project, which seeks to determine the region's final forest line through survey with concrete markers (locally called "mojon") established on the ground.

It will also assess suitable land use of the areas that will be traversed by the survey for Congress to make the necessary legislation.

Forester Calil A. Bantuas, regional assessment and delineation team (RADT) coordinator, said that seven teams have been deployed in various parts of the region to conduct the survey in accordance with DENR Administrative Order 2008-24.

The order provides for a comprehensive procedure to facilitate the conduct of assessment and delineation of boundaries between forestlands, national parks and agricultural land.

Lucman urged the survey teams to work together to reach the target on time.

"I call on each of the members of the teams to unite and help one another. Your task is not easy considering that you have to traverse natural and man-made barriers that may endanger your lives and limbs," he said.

Lucman noted that forestland boundary assessment and delineation is a very sensitive task considering that some markers are no longer existing on the ground resulting to encroachment of forestlands or conversion to non-forest uses such as agriculture, settlements, and built-up areas, among others.

He said all the barangays, municipalities, cities and provinces are concerned with their areas because it is directly related to their Internal Revenue Allotments.

The seven teams dispatched to the region's four provinces recently gathered here to present their output.

Besides South Cotabato, North Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat, Central Mindanao also covers Sarangani. (BSS)