SOME 63,287,388 seedlings have been planted in 101,544 hectares forest land in the Cordillera region as of November 2016 through the National Greening Program (NGP) according to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Cordillera regional office.
DENR-CAR revealed from the first batch of the program from 2011-2015, a total of 38,291,015 seedlings were planted.
In addition, 24,996,373 seedlings were planted also as of November 2016 as part of the continuation of the NGP.
In 2016, the province of Abra has the highest seedlings planted which is 12,441,315; Benguet has 5,062,000; Kalinga has 2,243,885; Apayao has 2,070,839; Mountain province has 2,065,060; and Ifugao has 1,113,274. Different species of seedlings including fruit bearing trees were planted in the region.
DENR-CAR regional director Ralph Pablo said they continue to plant more seedlings in different forest lands of the region and to protect the environment with the help of the different environmental groups like people’s organization, non-government organizations, government organizations, schools organizations, and other groups and volunteers.
Pablo said the DENR national office is also monitoring and validating the survival rate of the seedlings planted in the region.
Pablo revealed the NGP in the region has less than 100 percent survival rate due to effects of climate change, illegal logging activities of some informal settlers, national disasters and other acts outside of their control but hopes the seedlings planted in the region will grow well.
He also reminded individuals in the region to continue protecting the environment and stop trespassing and doing illegal activities in forest areas.