Aquino wants 1.5 billion new trees by 2016

MANILA -- President Benigno Aquino III is getting more serious in his fight for the environment as he spearheaded an initiative to plant some 1.5 billion new trees by the end of his term in 2016.

Issuing latest Executive Order (EO) 26, President Aquino ordered the implementation of a National Greening Program (NGP) as a government priority that will plant trees in up to 1.5 million hectares of land starting this year.

EO 26 specified particular lands where the trees should be planted. These include forestlands, mangrove and protected areas, ancestral domains, civil and military reservations, urban areas under the greening plan of the local government units, inactive and abandoned mine sites, and other suitable lands to be identified by the Departments of Agriculture, Agrarian Reform, and Environment and Natural Resources Convergence Initiative.

"It is the policy of the State to pursue sustainable development for poverty reduction, food security, biodiversity conservation, and climate change mitigation and adaptation," the EO stated.

President Aquino noted that one of the priority programs of the government is to mitigate the effects of climate change, which has affected not only the Philippines but the entire world.

To ensure the success of the tree planting, the NGP will require all students and government employees to individually plant a minimum of 10 seedlings per year.

Last month, the President issued EO 23 declaring an indefinite log ban in all natural and residual forest in the country. (Jill Beltran/Sunnex)