19 strategic link to the millennium development goals - LGRC DILG 10

Forest Cover. Forest cover in the forest lands in the urban centers in the Philippines wascontinuously declining. In 2004, the average forest cover reported by 62 cities stood atonly 56% (see Figure 19.9). The urban centers in the MLUB had the highest remainingforest cover at 74%. This was followed by those in the MSR with 55% and the NLAQwith 51%. The lowest forest cover was in the cities in the CP with 46%.The forest cover in the cities was complemented by the annual reforestation activitiesimplemented by the urban centers. In 2004, a total of 32 cities reported their respectivereforestation activities in their forestlands, tree parks, and greenbelts areas. Urban centersin the MLUB registered the highest reforestation effort at 65%. Cities in the NLAQ andMSR both recorded 46% reforestation rates, while those in the CP had 36%.Coral Reef. Coral reefs are also at critical level. Only 50% of coastal cities reported 80%to100% intact coral reefs remaining. The rest of the urban centers had declining live coralreefs remaining. In 2004, the 12 cities in the MSR recorded the highest remaining livecorals at 66%. This was closely followed by the four cities in the MLUB with 65%remaining live coral reefs. The three cities in the NLAQ, meanwhile, registered 48%remaining live corals while the lowest was recorded in CP at 37%.Target: Achieve significant improvements in the lives of the slum dwellersInformal Settlements. About 13.3% of the total households in the cities are living ininformal settlements or makeshift houses. This was translated to about 587,000households living in informal settlements or makeshift houses in 2004 (see Figure 19.10).Of this number, the cities in the MLUB had the highest percentage share of informalsettlements at 63% or about 369,000 households. Those in the CP and MSR had onlyover 105,000 and 148,000, respectively. The lowest number of informal settlements wasin NLAQ with over 44,000 households.One of the compounding problems on informal settlements is electrification. On theaverage, 79.3% of the total households in the cities had electricity. Such average waswithin the suggested benchmark level under the LGPMS. But the remaining 21% ofhouseholds with no access to electricity in 2004 was equivalent to an estimated 948,000households.The volume of households with no electricity was in the MLUB with an estimated334,000 households. This was followed by the MSR with 294,000 households and CPwith 265,000. NLAQ registered the lowest number of households with no electricity at77,000.160 STRATEGIC LINK TO THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS