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SDG 1 aims to end poverty in all its forms and dimensions everywhere. Some of the most important anti-poverty initiatives include:

Increasing access to long-term employment, entrepreneurial possibilities, and productive resources

Ensuring that everyone has access to essential social services

Empowering low-income people and their organizations.

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Despite the province’s agriculture and tourism industry, poverty continues to be one of the main concerns being addressed by the provincial government. Due to extreme poverty, people resort to overexploitation of land, forests, and natural resources to increase production and earn a living wage. This results in environmental deterioration and resource depletion in the present time.

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As of the 2021 Poverty Census, the MIMAROPA region had the lowest capital poverty threshold with Php 13,669 among all the regions in the Philippines. The poverty incidence also increased from 15.1% in 2018 to 19.3% in 2021.

In the 2015 Poverty Census, it ranked ninth-highest in terms of poverty incidence with 24.4% but had the fifth-lowest magnitude of the poor population with 754,222. Specifically, Occidental Mindoro had the highest poverty incidence among the provinces in the region with 41.2% and had the highest magnitude of poor population in MIMAROPA.

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Enhanced Partnership Against Hunger and Poverty (EPAHP) Program

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Enhanced Partnership Against Hunger and Poverty (EPAHP) Program

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The EPAHP is one of the projects of the Inter-Agency Task Force Zero Hunger, which seeks to alleviate hunger, promote food and nutrition security, and decrease poverty in urban and rural areas by promoting synergy and convergence of critical services that serve the poorest members of society. The following activities improve social capital and make use of economic resources in this program:

Feeding programs

Food-production programs

Essential support services

Participation of community-based organizations

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Center for Conservation Innovations. (n.d.). Mindoro Forest and Biodiversity Conservation Program: Engaging the community and protecting the forest. Retrieved from https://conservation-innovations.org/project/mindoro-forest-and-biodiversity-conservation-program/

Cudis, C. (2021, November 25). Anti-hunger, poverty program launched in Mimaropa. Retrieved from https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1160954

DENR-B+WISER. (n.d.). Philippines becomes the global leader in using Smart Conservation Software for forest protection. Retrieved from https://forestry.denr.gov.ph/b+wiser/index.php/bulletin/50-2017/april-2017/141-philippines-becomes-the-global-leader-in-using-smart-conservation-software-for-forest-protection

Department of Trade and Industry. (n.d.) Profile of Region 4B (MIMAROPA). Retrieved from https://www.dti.gov.ph/regions/mimaropa/profile/

Fiestada, J., De La Rosa, C., & Mangahas, M. (2018, July 12). Retrieved from https://pcij.org/article/1409/stats-on-the-state-of-the-regions-hubs-of-wealth-ponds-of-poverty

Global Forest Watch. (n.d.). Occidental Mindoro.  Retrieved from https://www.globalforestwatch.org/dashboards/country/PHL/57

National Economic and Development Authority. (2020, October 5). Harnessing Digital Technologies Can Help Philippines Overcome Impact of Pandemic, Hasten Recovery. Retrieved from https://neda.gov.ph/harnessing-digital-technologies-can-help-philippines-overcome-impact-of-pandemic-hasten-recovery/

National Economic and Development Authority. (n.d.). Occidental Mindoro. Retrieved from https://mimaropa.neda.gov.ph/occidental-mindoro/

Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA). (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.pagasa.dost.gov.ph/climate/climatological-normals

Philippine News Agency. (2021, December 16). Innovation in basic sectors to serve as PH engine of growth: NEDA. Retrieved from https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1162992

Philippine Statistics Authority. (n.d.). MIMAROPA. Retrieved from http://rssomimaropa.psa.gov.ph/content/mimaropa

United Nations. (n.d.). Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Sustainable Development. The 17 Goals. Retrieved from https://sdgs.un.org/goals

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SDG 15 aims to “protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss”.

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Forests are home to 80% of all terrestrial animals, plants, and insects, making them the most biologically diverse ecosystems on land. They also have a very important role in minimizing the risk of natural disasters like floods, droughts, and landslides to occur. Forests help to reduce climate change by aiding in the balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide and humidity in the air, as well as protecting watersheds. A lot of people benefit and depend their livelihoods on forests as it provides shelter, work, and security.

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The MIMAROPA region, including Mindoro, has seen the worst deforestation in the past years. Despite the pandemic, which allowed the forests to recover, illegal logging in this region continued.

Forest activities and livelihood factors have continuously modified the forests of Mindoro due to several reasons such as high poverty levels, low employment opportunities, insecure tenure rights, and low institutional capacity.

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Occidental Mindoro had 13.2 Mha of natural forest in 2010, covering 62% of its geographical area. However, in 2020, it lost 46.8 kHa of natural forest, equating to 27.4 Mt of carbon dioxide emissions.

Occidental Mindoro lost 595 ha of humid primary forest between 2002 and 2020, accounting for 2.9% of the island's total tree cover loss over the same period. In this time span, the total area of humid primary forest in Occidental Mindoro fell by 1.5%.

Between 2001 and 2020, Occidental Mindoro lost 21.4 ha of tree cover, a 6.3% decline from 2000, and emitted 10.8 Mt of carbon dioxide.

So far, in 2021, 3.5 ha of land have been destroyed in Occidental Mindoro.

Between 2019 and 2022, 663 VIIRS Alerts fire alerts were issued in Occidental Mindoro.

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7 million hectares of Philippine land are forested – and that’s bad news:

https://www.rappler.com/environment/hectares-land-philippines-forested/

Illegal logging continues in MIMAROPA despite Luzon lockdown:

https://www.rappler.com/nation/256848-illegal-logging-continues-mimaropa-despite-luzon-lockdown/

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Mindoro Forest and Biodiversity Conservation Programme

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Mindoro Forest and Biodiversity Conservation Programme

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This is a multi-stakeholder initiative, which has a goal to reduce deforestation in Mindoro's main and secondary forests, while also protecting High Conservation Value regions and improving livelihood prospects for local populations. It uses carbon revenue in making essential investments in job development and income production activities to maintain financial stability in the near future.

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Lawin Forest and Biodiversity Protection System 

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Lawin Forest and Biodiversity Protection System 

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Lawin Forest and Biodiversity Protection System are created by DENR and USAID in collaboration with Chemonics International for forest protection. This conservation software brings together forest rangers, local people, and decision-makers and uses geographic information system (GIS) data to analyze forest cover and biodiversity information to focus forest protection efforts in the most vulnerable areas. Then, patrol plans are formulated to ensure systematic monitoring of the forest towards identified conversation objectives and targets. A CyberTracker app is installed on smartphones or tablets to record geo-referenced observations of threats, wildlife, and forest condition.

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Philippines: A Global Leader of SMART Technology

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Occidental Mindoro is known as the “Food Basket of the Philippines” as it is one of the country’s top agricultural producers, supplying crops like rice, corn, onions, garlic, and other fruits to provinces and Metro Manila, with palay having the largest volume of production. There are also fisheries and aquamarine products such as salt, milkfish, tuna, and prawn.

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Another important industry in the Occidental Mindoro is tourism. The province is visited by thousands of tourists to enjoy its natural resources and wonders.

Some of the popular attractions include:

Apo Reef National Park

Mt. Iglit-Baco National Park

Devil’s Mountain

Onoda Cave and Trail

Inasakan beach

Libuao and Tabtaban Lakes

Malatong-tong River and Falls

Cabacungan Lake and Falls

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The island of Mindoro is designated as a biodiversity conservation area. It has a lot of potential for eco-tourism since it is the home of two well-known national parks: Apo Reef National Park, which is the Philippines' biggest atoll-like reef and the world's second-largest non-contiguous reef, and Mt. Iglit-Baco National Park, which was declared a Tamaraw Reservation and Bird Sanctuary.

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Technology is said to be the solution to poverty. During the pandemic, there was a severe disruption in the domestic community due to the restrictions implemented that placed a limit on the movement of people, businesses, and industries. In the new normal, the use of digital technology such as online payments, e-commerce, telemedicine, and online education has helped the community and the government to cope with the crisis, ensure business and work continuity, and deliver essential public services. This has become a major step towards the recovery of the economy since it lowers the cost of production, which increases profit, opens new job opportunities, which increases household incomes, and makes education and healthcare available to many. However, technology may also increase poverty as it creates a digital divide between those with the Internet and those without, leading to unequal access to services and economic opportunities. Additionally, there is also disadvantage to rural areas with expensive and poor Internet services.

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PhilSys aspires to create a single national ID for all Filipinos and resident aliens in order to offer a unique and digitalized evidence of identification that would allow every Filipino, particularly the poor, access to essential social, financial, and digital services. It's a way to make public and private transactions, school registration, and bank account opening easier. It also aims to enhance efficiency when dealing with government organizations by requiring people to provide only one form of identification.

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Harnessing Digital Technologies Can Help Philippines Overcome Impact of Pandemic, Hasten Recovery:
https://neda.gov.ph/harnessing-digital-technologies-can-help-philippines-overcome-impact-of-pandemic-hasten-recovery/

Innovation in basic sectors to serve as PH engine of growth: NEDA:

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1162992

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Occidental Mindoro, also known as the Home of the Indigenous Mangyans, is one of the provinces situated in Region IV-B (MIMAROPA) and covers the western part of Mindoro Island. It comprises 11 municipalities with 164 barangays. Its capital is Mamburao, while the biggest municipality is San Jose. But in past times, Mindoro was originally referred to as “Ma’I” by the Chinese traders and Mina de Oro (gold mine) by the Spaniards, in which the island got its current name.

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The province is located along the western part of Mindoro Island, south of Batangas. It is bordered on the north by Verde Island Passage, on the east by Oriental Mindoro, on the south by Mindoro strait, and on the west by the West Philippine Sea. Its topography is primarily rugged with narrow coastal plains. Its landscape is marked by a succession of mountain ranges, valleys, plateaus, with undulating plains near the coastal region.

Total Land Area (2020):
633,022 hectares

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Population (2020):
525, 354

Annual Growth Rate (2015-2020):
1.59%

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Seasons:

Dry from November to April and wet from May to October

Average Annual Rainfall Volume:

2360.2 mm