‘Plant trees, save birds’

Sunday, November 7, 2010

PLANTING trees is not just about carbon sequestration, but should also help bring back biological diversity. This is the goal that the Aboitiz group of companies has set for its tree planting project in Barangay Tabunan, Cebu City last month.

About 500 Aboitiz group employees, volunteers and students planted seedlings of native tree species at the Visayan Electric Co. (Veco) Reforestation Park in Tabunan, which is located within the Central Cebu Protected Landscape (CCPL).

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The CCPL is a 29,000-hectare protected area composed of three watersheds (Buhisan, Mananga and Kotkot-Lusaran) and two national parks (Central Cebu and Sudlon). It is considered a major source of water of central Cebu, but is also faced with various threats due to human settlement and non-sustainable farming practices.

“We plant trees because we want our indigenous birds and other animal species to thrive and inhabit our forests…because we care for the next generation…because of our passion for a better world,” Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Inc. (AEV) president and chief executive officer Erramon Aboitiz said. Aboitiz and his family also participated in the tree planting.

30T seedlings

Similar tree planting activities were also conducted simultaneously in other areas in the country where Aboitiz business units operate. A total of 2,000 employees were involved nationwide in planting about 30,000 seedlings.

In Cebu, 2,500 seedlings were planted. Some of the Cebu participants were part of the Race to Reduce run organized by the Aboitiz group in August.

The 30,000 trees are expected to sequester about 700 tons of carbon dioxide annually from the atmosphere. Increasing levels of carbon dioxide, one of the greenhouse gases, in the atmosphere due to industrialization and vehicle emissions has been blamed for accelerating climate change. Among the effects of climate change are worsening storms, extreme weather disturbances (like El Niño and La Niña), floods and sea level rise, which threatens small islands and coastal communities in the Philippines.

The tree planting activity was also conducted in cooperation with the Philippine Business for Social Progress, which has been involved in many reforestation projects in the CCPL.

Apart from Tabunan, Cebu City, the Aboitiz group planted trees near the Aboitiz Power’s geothermal plant in Makban, Laguna; Itogon, Benguet; Alfonso Lista, Isabela; Mt. St. Rita Reforestation Area at the Subic Freeport Zone; Sitio Panal in Tiwi, Albay; and Beckel, Benguet.

In Mindanao, volunteers from Davao-based companies planted 4,000 seedlings in Magtuod, New Carmen and New Valencia. Some 1,500 were planted in Sitio Lower Pogpog, Sibulan, Sta. Cruz in Davao del Sur. In other parts of Mindanao, a group of volunteers planted 1,000 seedlings in Dinaig, Maguindanao, and another group planted 500 more at the Amontay Watershed in Agusan del Norte.