As an organization involved in the rehabilitation of critical watersheds through reforestation, MTFI supports the National Greening Program of the government
One of the urgent tasks of our generation today is to help ensure sustainable development.
Whether we succeed or fail in this task greatly depends on how we protect and rehabilitate our environment.
The passing on third and final reading of two House Bills before the House of Representatives went on recess for the holidays is a welcome development especially for us in the Million Trees Foundation, Inc. (MTFI).
House Bills 09587 and 09588, An Act Requiring Parents to Plant Two Trees for Every Children Born to Them, and An Act Requiring All Graduating Senior High School and College Students to Plant Two Trees Each as a Civic Duty for Environment Protection and Preservation, respectively, will impact on the government’s reforestation program.
According to Committee Report 00863 submitted by the Committee on Reforestation, the House Bill substitutes House Bills 582, 986, 2499, 2580 and 4813.
On the other hand, House Bill 09588 is the substitute bill for House Bills 978, 1009, 2342, 2498, 4207 and 5864 per Committee Report 00864.
As I skimmed through bills filed in the House of Representatives, I learned that over the years, there had been several proposed legislations on reforestation aside from the bills mentioned.
These include a proposed Act Providing For The Mandatory Planting of One Tree For Each Filipino Aged 7 Years Old and Above Each Year; An Act Promoting Tree-Planting Consciousness Among Filipino Youth Through Education and Civic Engagement to Increase Their Social Responsibility for the Environment;
An Act Institutionalizing Quarterly Tree Planting Activity in the Philippines; An Act to Spur the Planting of a Billion Trees; An Act Providing Incentives for and Encourage Conservation and Maintenance of Forest Cover and Tree Planting in Ancestral Lands, to name a few.
The two recently passed bills will greatly boost the country’s forest cover once enacted into law.
As I have written in my previous column (Dec 2, 2023), reforestation is among the solutions to slow down the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
The country’s flagship reforestation program, Enhanced National Greening Program, builds upon the success of the National Greening Program.
It was on Feb 24, 2011 when President Benigno S. Aquino III signed Executive Order 26 declaring the implementation of a National Greening Program as a government priority.
The issuance sought “to consolidate and harmonize all greening efforts such as Upland Development Program, Luntiang Pilipinas and similar initiatives of the government, civil society and private sector under a National Greening Program.”
The program involved the planting of 1.5 billion trees in about 1.5 million hectares of land of public domain from 2011 to 2016.
As identified, lands of public domain refer to forestlands, mangrove and protected areas, ancestral domain, civil and military reservations, urban areas under the greening plan of the LGUs, inactive and abandoned mines sites; and other suitable lands.
According to DENR, the lead agency of the program, the NGP aims to: 1) contribute in reducing poverty among upland and lowland poor households, indigenous peoples, and in coastal and urban areas;
2)implement sustainable management of natural resources through resource conservation, protection, and productivity enhancement;
3)provide food, goods and services such as timber, fiber, non-timber forest products, aesthetic values, air enhancement values, water regulation values, and mitigate climate change by expanding forest cover that serve as carbon sink;
4)promote public awareness as well as instill social and environmental consciousness on the value of forests and watersheds;
5)enhance the formation of positive values among the youth and other partners through shared responsibilities in sustainable management of tree plantations and forest resources, and
6) consolidate and harmonize all greening efforts of the government, civil society, and the private sector.
An earlier issuance, Executive Order 23, dated Feb 1, 2011 defined the National Greening Program as a Department of Agriculture-Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Department of Agrarian Reform “Convergence initiative anchored on the government’s goal of poverty reduction, food, security, climate change adaptation and mitigation.”
On Nov 12, 2015, Executive Order193 was signed expanding the coverage of the National Greening Program.
The EO stipulated the coverage of the National Greening Program is expanded to cover all the remaining unproductive, denuded and degraded forestlands and its period of implementation is likewise extended from 2016 to 2028.
To be rehabilitated under the Expanded National Greening Program is an estimated 7.1 million hectares.
For this year, the National Greening Program was allotted about P2.39 billion.
As an organization involved in the rehabilitation of critical watersheds through reforestation, MTFI supports the National Greening Program of the government.
It has forged ties with national government agencies, business entities, and other stakeholders to achieve a greener Philippines. Its target: 10 million more trees planted by 2030.
We at the MTFI are hopeful House Bills 09587 and 09588 together with the respective counterpart in the Senate will be enacted into laws.
Let us restore our forest.
Together we can do this if, as the late President Fidel V. Ramos said, there is unity, solidarity and teamwork.
(The author is president and executive director of the Million Trees Foundation Inc., a non-profit group advocating tree planting and watershed protection. He is also a book writer and publisher of biographical and coffee table books.)