Last night we told you about the leaked document from the Forestry Department which seeks to put four recreational sites in the mountain pine ridge under a public private co -management.
The Chief Forest Officer has advised against it - citing poor date and the need for consultation with stakeholders
One of these stakeholders is the Forehands for Conservation and Development. Rafaal Manzaneo told us the government should proceed with input from others:
Rafael Manzanero, Executive Director - FCD
"And as far as I recall, when we started to question more about that kind of concept, and as far as I understood, you know, PACT was really to look at that analysis on how to do these kinds of concessions. Because these are protected areas."
"So I would just hope that these mechanisms have kicked in, if anything at all, in terms of ensuring that these things are being done properly."
"I know that transparency has always been a question. Also like in, you know, is the company legit or who is it? These kind of things are, you know, sometimes might be difficult now to find, you know? I think that now it's maybe even more complicated now as compared to earlier years to find out if these are phantom organizations or, you know, so it might be much more difficult. But I mean, my only point that I wanted to state here is that in, you know, I, I'm just hoping that due diligence is being followed because these are really sensitive areas. These are new areas for development. And I would hope also that in that there has been some other, considerations in, in terms of what they're also the involvement of key stakeholders in some of these aspects."
The company proposing to co-manage the sites - Selva Conservation - was established in December of 2024 and has no known track record.
