The Davao City Planning Coordinator revealed on Thursday that the city’s green city initiative, which was achieved with the help of various offices of the city government, got the bronze award during the 21st International Awards for Livable Communities by LivCom.
The awarding was held on June 2 in Valletta, Malta.
Davao was picked from among 232 cities from all over the world and became among the 22 that were chosen as awardees. The city received the bronze award under Category 8 or those with more than 400,000 population, along with Eskisehir Turkey and Narayanganj, Bangladesh. For that category, the 1st gold was given to Abu Dhabi UAE, the 2ND gold to Xinyang, P.R. China, and the 3rd gold to Cankaya District, Ankara Turkey. Two silver awards were also given to Katowice Poland, and Avcilar, Turkey.
The award was given through a hybrid awarding setup, where City Environment and Natural Resources Office Head Engr. Marivic Reyes was also given the opportunity to present the city’s greening efforts.
City Planning and Development Coordinator Engr. Ivan C. Cortez, during the I-Speak Media Forum held Thursday, June 8, 2023, said that such an award serves as an evaluation of the efforts of the city in terms of greening and sustainability.
“They took notice of our efforts in terms of parks development, peace and security, and also our efforts in protecting our remaining forest nasa ordinances natin and regulations,” he said.
Cortez said that the city is lucky to have a green advocate leadership through the city mayor, who pushes and takes further these initiatives.
“We have a standing order from the mayor to improve further the greening efforts of the city, we are introducing greening efforts in our sidewalks and our center islands. We want to lessen the urban heat effect, especially in our downtown areas kasi masyadong mainit na siya (because it is very hot) during noon time,” Cortez said.
He added that they are now finalizing the design for sidewalk greening projects to allow pedestrians to walk instead of riding jeepneys.
“We are trying to enhance this zone in our arcaded zone. The arcaded zone is from our City Hall all the way to Mental Hospital. So that is our arcaded zone, we will enhance the features of our sidewalks in those areas,” he said.
As for the ordinances, Cortez also said during the forum that with the recent approval of the 2019-2028 City Land Use Plan by the Department of Settlements and Urban Development (DSHUD), which is only awaiting publication to be enforced, more agricultural areas have been reverted to forest classification and expanding the city’s forestlands. CIO
