The DENR-Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau (PAWB) in collaboration with the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (NAMRIA) organized a three day Orientation-Workshop on Boundary Delineation and Demarcation of Protected Areas last 03-05 July 2012 at Cloud 9 Sports and Leisure Club Hotel, Antipolo City. The said Orientation-Workshop was attended by 92 participants coming from various DENR Regional Offices.

The Orientation-Workshop aimed to capacitate the field offices of DENR on the guidelines and procedures of the delineation and demarcation of boundaries of protected areas. Specifically, the Guidelines was presented and discussed to achieve common understanding of its provisions for effective field implementation; to provide hands-on experience on the use of GIS for the preparation of preliminary maps overlaid with all the thematic maps; to review the cost estimates for the boundary delineation and demarcation and  recommend adjustments as may be necessary; to identify issues and concerns on the delineation and demarcation of protected area boundaries and provide the necessary steps to address them; and to generate and apply lessons learned from the implementation of the Forest Land Boundary Delineation and Demarcation Program.

The Orientation-Workshop was formally opened by Director Mundita S. Lim of PAWB. Dir. Lim emphasized the importance of the said activity specifically in managing protected areas through boundary delineation and demarcation. The Orientation-Workshop is a three day activity consisting of presentations, open forum and hands-on workshops. During the first day of the said activity, the Guidelines on the Delineation and Demarcation of Boundaries of Protected Areas was presented. Cost estimates for the said activity was also reviewed. Headed by the NAMRIA, survey mapping procedures for the delineation and demarcation of protected areas were presented. Open forum after each of the presentations has been made as a venue for the participants to raise their issues and concerns as well as share their actual field experiences pertaining to the technical and financial aspects of the boundary delineation and demarcation of protected areas.

Day 2 of the workshop was facilitated by NAMRIA for the participants to come up with preliminary maps of their protected areas. Each region presented their output maps after the workshop. Through this activity, the participants were able to compare maps generated from the technical descriptions reflected in RAs and geo-referenced NIPAS maps.

At the last day of the Orientation-Workshop, the draft Guidelines on Delineation and Demarcation of Boundaries of Protected Areas was reviewed by dissecting each section. Several changes on the said guidelines were made and agreed by the participants. Upon considering some of the changes made to the guidelines, agreements based on the three days workshop were presented.  The three days Orientation-Workshop was formally closed by DENR Finance Management Service Director Angelito V. Fontanilla.