Friday, December 19, 2008 Mt. Kanlaon will benefit from Binhi program
THE Mt. Kanlaon Natural Park (MKNP) will benefit from the reforestation program of the Lopez family, said an official of the Energy Development Corporation (EDC).
Frances Ariola, corporate communications officer of EDC, said the Lopez family's Binhi program under its community-based forest management (CBFM) is aimed at reforesting MKNP using premium endemic species.
"This is also in compliance with EDC's environmental plans for its steam augmentation program in the MKNP buffer zone," she said.
Ariola said the launching of the Binhi program is scheduled early next year, although massive works had already been done in Mt. Kanlaon.
The program dubbed "Binhi: A Greening Legacy" will also be launched in other EDC geothermal sites in Leyte, Southern and Northern Negros, Bicol, and North Cotabato next year, Ariola added.
The move was an offshoot of the recently launched Binhi program in Metro Manila where the Lopez family introduced its "biggest and unprecedented" reforestation program called "Binhi".
Ariola said the program is aimed at restoring the country's disappearing biodiversity while addressing the livelihood needs of upland communities.
"Three generations regenerating the country's vanishing trees and that's the Lopez family," she said.
Ariola further said that "Binhi: A Greening Legacy" rethinks the whole idea of reforesting the Philippines in a new, more specific, and measurable manner.
Binhi, she said, is one of the Commitments to Action declared by Chairman Oscar Lopez during the Clinton Global Initiative Meet in Hong Kong.
"It was perhaps auspicious that EDC joined the Lopez Group at a time when the Lopez family was looking for the best means to implement the family's greening legacy. EDC needs a healthy forest cover to sustain the underground reservoir that provides geothermal energy, its core business. It is precisely its nature of business that makes EDC the fertile ground to germinate Binhi, so to speak," Ariola quoted Chairman Lopez as saying.
The program will establish tree parks of rare and endangered species in all provinces of the country, reforest gaps of critical forest ecosystems, expand agro-forests and plantations to serve as livelihoods for forest dwellers, and convert geothermal watershed areas to ecotourism spots. (EBS)
