KIDAPAWAN CITY – Korean environment experts have shared their knowledge on urban ecosystem and sound ecological planning to tourism workers and local government officials in North Cotabato. As part of a five-day training course on stream ecological restoration that ends on Friday, 60 participants toured three major river systems in Kidapawan City:
the Nuangan River, the longest in the city; Marbol River, and Matingao River. Nuangan is the longest river in the city while Marbol and Matingao are located at the 701-hectare National Park of the Mount Apo. The workshop aims to develop plans for the preservation, conservation, and enhancement of the ecosystems of areas that have tourism potentials. “We want an integrated approach, meaning, a ‘win-win’ strategy in pursuing environment conservation and economic development," said the main speaker, Prof. Kwi-Gon Kim, executive director of the International Urban Training Center (IUTC). According to Edgar Paalan, environment officer of Kidapawan City LGU, the mouth of Nuangan River can be traced to the Liguasan marsh believed to have vast deposits of natural gas and oil. In North Cotabato, at least seven towns traverse the Liguasan marsh, including the towns of Libungan, Midsayap, Aleosan, Pikit, Kabacan, M’lang, and Tulunan. Hyunkyu Kim of the IUTC, an expert on stream and wetlands restoration in South Korea, will share on Thursday his expertise on how to restore the balance of the marsh ecosystem. The training course aincludes teaching tourism workers and LGU officials in North Cotabato the accreditation process for the UNESCO Natural or Cultural Heritage. The Liguasan marsh and the Mount Apo, the country’s highest peak that still has lush forests, might quality to become a natural heritage of the UNESCO, according to Prof. Kwi-Gon. Kwi-Gon said that an environmental and ecological planning concept and basic planning for urban centers need basic directions, objectives, civic survey and analysis. “There is a better way to pursue eco-tourism development and this is through using the ‘minimalist approach’, that is, to ease the effects or the hazards of development to nature," said Prof. Kwi-Gon. The training, according to City vice-mayor Joseph Evangelista, a graduate of the training courses of the IUTC, was aimed at ‘restoring what has been destroyed’. For one, he said, the state of the landscape of the Nuangan River located at the city’s urban center is very dismal. Based on a study made by the City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO), the river has dense settlement and poor infrastructures, meaning, it has settlements along river banks; has irregular street layout; poor sewage system; and has poor sanitation facilities, among others. “The narrowing water ways and inundating low-lying areas have resulted to disturbed steam flow," said the study. “The LGU challenge now is how to restore Nuangan River, develop its visual appeal and recreational potentials," the study added. – VVP, GMANews.TV 
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