THE Goddard Institute for Space Studies in the United States said that road transportation will be the greatest contributor to global warming for the next 50 years with fuel use from road vehicles contributing dangerous greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that exacerbate climate change.
And this seems to hold true for the Philippines where the transportation sector is one of the largest sources of GHG emissions. In fact, international non-government organization Clean Air Asia estimates that the country will generate 81.77 million tons of carbon dioxide from road activities by the year 2030.
But in a global perspective, the contribution of the Philippines to global warming is only miniscule in the world’s total GHG emissions. As of 2014, the country only accounts for less than 0.35 percent of global GHG emissions. This low contribution to global GHG emissions places the country in the ideal position of undertaking mitigation and adaptive climate change initiatives.
Greening the NLEX Program
Fortunately, companies like the NLEX Corp., which operates and maintains the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX), is taking bold steps in contributing into the fight against climate change. Since 2006, the “Greening the NLEX Program”, has been able to transform vast stretches of the more than 80 kilometer road facility into a virtual “green expressway.”
The program was launched to mitigate the effects of global warming and environmental imbalance. It is being supported and participated by companies under the MVP Group as well other public and private organizations.
With the program, sections of the NLEX like lands near toll islands and exits are now lined with pockets of hardwood, endemic, non-native trees and ornamental plants. The road sides of the expressway, in various sections of Pampanga and Bulacan, are also lined with trees. In August 2013 to August 2014, the NLEX Corp. had targeted to plant some 20,000 trees of 67 varieties to add to the 60,000 trees planted as of 2013.
These virtual “green barriers” help filter the carbon emissions of the vehicles that use the NLEX every day. The average vehicular traffic at the NLEX was recorded at 237,046 in 2017. For the first quarter of this year, average daily traffic at NLEx reached 250,989. To add to the math, it is relevant to note that one gallon of gas creates 20 pounds of carbon dioxide and the average car emits about six tons of carbon dioxide every year. Fortunately, a tree can absorb as much as 48 pounds of carbon dioxide per year and a tree’s carbon absorption increases at a certain age and slows down as it goes beyond its peak age.
To further boost its greening program, the toll way company targets to plant additional 62,000 bougainvillea saplings until 2019 at the median area of NLEX spanning 23 kilometers from Burol, Balagtas in Bulacan to the City of San Fernando in Pampanga.
Just this August, Speaker of the House of Representatives and former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Metro Pacific Investments Corporation chairman Manuel Pangilinan, Pampanga Governor Lilia Pineda, and Metro Pacific Tollways and NLEX Corporation president Rodrigo Franco led the initial planting of the said ornamental plants along a section in the City of San Fernando.
Since 2015, bougainvilleas have been planted along sections of the NLEX. They form a steady sight at the NLEX especially during summer when they are in full bloom.
The toll way corporation said in a statement that “aside from enhancing the road’s aesthetics, they also contribute to cleaner air and healthier ecology along the expressway by reducing carbon emissions from vehicles. The bougainvilleas will likewise serve as glare protection for motorists to improve road safety.”
Home to native trees
NLEX, too, is home to some of the country’s endemic trees. Trees, the names of which are place names of towns and villages in Pampanga and Bulacan, now grow inside the NLEX.
Native trees have a strong presence inside the toll way all due NLEX Corp. president Rodrigo Franco and the officers of the Financial Executives of the Philippines who initiated a native tree planting program a couple of years back. Because of this initiative, species of the typhoon resilient dita tree are now fully grown along certain sections of the NLEX.
NLEX Corp. has also adopted the greening program for SCTEX which it also operates. NLEX Corp. has also been partnering with other non-government groups and local stakeholders who have similar greening advocacies.
In 2014, the Fostering Education and Environment for Development partnered with the toll way company in planting 2000 indigenous narra, Palawan cherry and banaba seedlings along the 93.77-kilometer of the four-lane expressway.
The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines has also planted 1,000 gmelina and mahogany seedlings to cover 1 hectare of SCTEX Cloverleaf Interchange at Mabalacat in 2014. These initiatives are well within perfect timing as vehicular traffic at the SCTEX has reached 54,566 daily in 2017.
Currently, varieties of dita, narra, banaba, agoho, mahogany, and balacat have been planted by NLEX Corporation volunteers along NLEX-SCTEX in recent years. NLEX Corp. had also pledged to double its tree planting effort in the coming years. And while local government units are removing trees from their road sides to make way for additional road space, SCTEX and NLEX have become the metaphor for well-planned road ways and would become the templates for the ideal “green expressways”.