DRIVING THOUGHTS
The number — three million trees — seems daunting, if not just ambitious, but after listening to the presentation on how much forest land needs to be reforested, planting three million trees is a small number.
I learned that two days ago at a roundtable discussion organized by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ (DENR) Forest Management Bureau (FMB) where an overview of the flagship initiative named “Forests for Life: 3M trees by 2028” was presented by Atty. Ray Thomas F. Kabigting, assistant director of the FMB, and Undersecretary for Integrated Environmental Science Dr. Carlos Primo C. David.
The maps of the areas already identified by the agency for reforestation presented by David showed that a total of 1.2 million hectares need to be reforested. Since three million trees can roughly cover 6,000 hectares, there’s a lot of space that needs tree planting activities, offering opportunities to more private corporations and organizations to support the reforestation initiative.
We need to plant more trees —starting with three million trees by 2028 to restore critical forest ecosystems to enhance biodiversity, improve water resources, and mitigate soil erosion, the presentation said. It also aims to “quantify carbon sequestration annually (from 2025 to 2028) and over the following decade (2029 to 2038).”
The whole program aims to have a “cumulative carbon sequestration of 500,000 tCO2 in 2025 to 2028, and a total of 3,500,000 tCO2. [tCO2e stands for tonnes (t) of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent (e), a standard unit for counting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions regardless of whether they’re from carbon dioxide or another gas, such as methane.]
Let’s not forget that reforestation rolls out a lot of benefits, not only the physical presence of trees. It enhances biodiversity, creates livelihood opportunities, and opens the area to eco-tourism, which can mean more economic activity for the locals.
The Forest for Life program has identified the areas for the planting of the three million trees — Ilocos Norte, Rizal, Leyte, Bataan, Bukidnon and Lanao del Norte. The team behind the program also included the cost of the reforestation initiative for private individuals and companies.
“With an investment as low as ₱100 per tree for a three-year period, the packages available can range from ₱10,000,000 to ₱65,000,000,” covering from 160 hectares and 100,000 trees per ₱10-million investment. “The ₱65,000,000 package spans 1,040 hectares and includes 650,000 trees. This range offers flexibility depending on the budget and desired environmental impact,” the project overview statement said.
The roundtable discussion, led by DENR Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo Loyzaga, was attended by officials of government agencies, provincial and local government units, private corporations, and non-government organizations like foundations. Several participants shared their companies’ present tree planning programs, and made known their intentions to support the 3M trees by 2028 project.
But there is always room for participation from more private organizations in actual tree planting, or related activities such as preparing the seedlings for planting. Strengthening awareness on the value of trees and healthy forests will need support from private groups, like schools where seminars on the topics can be conducted regularly, not only on certain days, like after a flood.
Most of us know why we need to keep our forests alive, but somehow, that knowledge gets buried in daily endeavors that happen so far away from a forest. Inside the city, you can still spot a tree being cut down simply because it’s in the way of a lot fence, or a homeowner’s beautification project. As the election campaign season has started, we will see trees made into posts for campaign posters and billboards, which teams from the Comelec have been dismantling as part of its “Operation Baklas.” Such acts indicate the low respect for a tree, so how can these city dwellers go out of their way to volunteer for tree planting events — or to push for such a program in their companies or organizations?
Our enthusiasm and support to plant a tree should not have boundaries. I know a group of car campers who make it a point to plant trees in the campsites they visit. Many companies make it a practice to have an incoming official plant a tree in the company facility. Every so often, I hear of students going off for a field trip outdoors where they also plant trees. All these initiatives to plant a tree should continue.
And for those who are not aware of it yet, forest bathing — or to be in the company of trees — has been proven by medical studies to be good for the health. I know that is true because I have been practicing the therapy. I’ll write about forest bathing next time.