LIAN, Batangas―A group of volunteers led by Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. (TMP) headed to the coast of Lian, Batangas for a mangrove-planting activity as part of the ‘All-Toyota Green Wave Project’ (Green Wave).
The project is the company’s expansive and multi-sectoral effort towards carbon neutrality (CN) and biodiversity conservation within TMP’s network amid the serious threat of global climate change.
In observance of Earth Month, TMP gathered over 50 volunteers from its own workforce, parent company, subsidiaries, the Philippine National Police, and the local government unit.
The group, spearheaded by TMP president Atsuhiro Okamoto, planted 5,000 mangrove propagules at Sitio Sulok, aiming to reforest a coastline that is part of the Verde Island Passage, considered as the world’s center of the center of marine shorefish biodiversity.
“TMP’s multi-pathway approach to CN goes back to Toyota’s commitments announced in 2015 under the global ‘Toyota Environmental Challenge 2050 (TEC 205).’ Under this, Toyota has outlined the Company’s targets to achieve Zero CO2 Emissions and Net Positive Environmental Impact by the year 2050,” Okamoto said.
“Today, we take time away from our usual workplace to be in harmony with nature, and push CN beyond the emission reduction efforts TMP has at its manufacturing plant and with the Toyota electrified vehicles,” the TMP president added.
Recognizing the VIP’s importance as the planet’s marine frontier and the call for climate mitigation measures, TMP has initially adopted since 2020 a 10-hectare mangrove plantation at Barangay Binubusan in Lian municipality. The adoption is under the National Greening Program, which is the Department of Environment and Natural Resources nationwide reforestation program aimed at “involving and enhancing private sector participation towards carbon neutrality.”
In collaboration with Lian’s Municipal Environment and Natural Resources Office and fisherfolk association, TMP has planted a total of 20,000 mangrove propagules and is nearing project completion.
MENRO Lian head Alvin Jonson said the project’s success is linked to the mangroves’ survival and maturity rate as the reforested areas are expected to later contribute to livelihood of fisherfolks and serve as a natural barrier to protect nearby communities from calamities, such as storm surges.
In expanding the Green Wave to other ecological systems, TMP recently signed a partnership with DENR Region IV-A CALABARAZON and respective LGUs to adopt new NGP sites: an 8-hectare mangrove plantation in Calatagan, Batangas, and a 50-hectare upland forest block in Siniloan, Laguna. TMP has four active NGP sites with a total of 108 hectares, including the other two in Lian, Batangas (10 ha) and Maragondon, Cavite (40 ha).