After seven years, a once-denuded mountain in the Philippines now boasts 62,000 trees.
The Aeta communities of Yangil and Banawen in Zambales have restored their ancestral land through seven-year reforestation with MAD Travel, a social business for sustainable tourism.
According to Rafael Dionisio, co-founder of MAD Travel, the effort helps build "a green economy based on agroforestry where taking care of nature builds wealth." Agroforestry involves growing trees and crops on the same land, which helps capture and store atmospheric carbon dioxide.
Some agroforestry products, including cashew, tea, honey, and calamansi, are set to support communities' livelihood. Dionisio said the forest trees used were Kupang, Narra, Yakal, Tibig, Palosapis, and Lauan.
“This project is part of a bigger plan to reforest 4,000 hectares of ancestral domain and to create wealth for farmers and indigenous people while healing the environment — empowering them to be entrepreneurs in their own land,” he wrote.
People can join the effort by helping raise funds through MAD Travel's “Gift a Tree” initiative. It seeks to plant and care for a tree in Zambales for three years, after which it can handle weeds and pests.
The program aims to "grow fruit and nut forests which will provide environmental protection and economic benefits to the province” and “regrow the rain forest that will reduce carbon, lower temperatures, prevent flooding, and provide better water access.”
Each ₱300 tree seedling is planted from June to August during the rainy season. The buyer, tagged as the "tree parent," receives a card with their name and a unique tree code for bi-annual updates.