The Philippines' National Greening Program (NGP) is mitigating climate risks and reducing the country's poverty rate, according to the World Bank.

In a Nov. 11 blog post, the multilateral lender cited the dual goals successfully achieved by the NGP, a collaborative initiative co-implemented by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Department of Agriculture (DA), and Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) since 2011.

"Tree planting programs offer the potential to sequester carbon, create jobs, and transfer productive forestry assets to individuals or communities," said Jeffrey Pagel, an environmental economist at the London School of Economics and an associate at the Grantham Research Institute on climate change and the environment, and Lorenzo Sileci, a research officer at the Grantham Research Institute.

According to Pagel and Sileci, the NGP "exemplifies how tree planting can contribute to both climate mitigation and poverty alleviation."

By reducing carbon emissions at a low cost while providing job opportunities, tree planting drives long-term sustainable growth.

"As countries look to scale up their climate actions, programs like the NGP should be considered not only for their environmental benefits but also for their ability to transform rural economies and reduce poverty," they concluded.

More than just planting trees

According to the DENR, the NGP is the country's largest reforestation effort to date, aiming to plant 1.5 billion trees across 1.5 million hectares from 2011 to 2016.

Beyond tree planting, the initiative empowered local organizations by paying them for tree planting and maintenance, with full control and proceeds after three years, fostering economic buy-in and long-term poverty alleviation.

Over six years, the NGP "implemented over 80,000 projects, planting hundreds of thousands of hectares, creating jobs, and empowering local communities."

Economic spillovers

Pagel and Sileci's study analyzed the economic spillover effects of the NGP by comparing areas near treated areas with those without neighboring treatments.

"We find that control villages adjacent to NGP-treated areas experienced a 4.5 percentage point reduction in unlit settlements, suggesting that the program's economic benefits extended beyond immediate intervention areas," they said.

Also, results revealed that NGP led to a 3.8 percent decline in agricultural employment, while unskilled manual labor and the service sector saw increases of 5.6 percent and 2.6 percent, respectively.

This suggests that the NGP "helped transition workers from agricultural jobs to higher-productivity sectors."

They also found no indication that these changes were caused by changes in the number of available workers or migration. This suggests that the program itself created economic activity.

"Beyond the socioeconomic benefits, the NGP also delivered significant environmental gains," the economists said.

The NGP sequestered between 71.4 and 303 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) over ten years.

"At the lower bound, this is equivalent to the emissions of 17 million gasoline-powered vehicles driven for one year or the CO2 output from 18 coal-fired power plants."

The initiative reduces carbon emissions at a cost of $2 to $10 per ton, with sequestration benefits exceeding costs between years six and nine, valued between $163 million and $9.57 billion.

NGP on policymaking

Pagel and Sileci pointed out that the NGP's success shows the importance of involving local communities in tree planting programs for sustainable environmental and socioeconomic outcomes.

"Second, tree planting programs should not be viewed solely as environmental interventions," they said, as they can drive economic development and reduce poverty, especially in rural areas.

"By aligning environmental and development goals, programs like the NGP can help achieve multiple policy objectives simultaneously," they stressed.

Additionally, the NGP underscores the need for long-term monitoring and support to ensure the survival of planted trees and sustained economic benefits.