Legarda: Tree Planting is Serious Business

June 24, 2015

As the country observes Philippines Arbor Day, Senator Loren Legarda renewed her call to continue awareness programs on tree planting, including educating the public on the proper and most effective way of doing it.

 

“We all need to look at tree planting as serious business. It’s not just about planting the seedlings, but we should ensure that they survive. We should also prevent cutting especially in protected areas,” Legarda said.

 

On Arbor Day, citizens are encouraged to plant and care for trees.

 

Legarda said that schools should teach the importance of trees and integrate tree-planting activities into the curriculum to promote environmental consciousness among the youth.

 

She emphasized on the need to plant the right species in the area where it can grow and thrive.

 

“We need trees not just for production but also as a way to mitigate climate change, to offset the carbon we emit on a daily basis,” she said.

 

According to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), a single tree can sequester 0.56 metric tons of carbon dioxide in its lifetime, and around 10 trees are needed to capture the emissions of just one car.

 

“Trees are also vital in in disaster risk reduction. For instance, mangroves are the best buffer against storm surges. We saw this during the onslaught of Super Typhoon Yolanda in 2013,” Legarda said.

 

The Senator has filed several bills that encourage tree planting and reforestation.

 

Senate Bill 521, “An Act Providing of the Urban and Countryside greening n the Philippines”, seeks to ensure sufficient greenery by making it mandatory to plant trees in the urban and countryside parks as well as in school grounds, other vacant lots and urbanized sites all over the country.

 

Senate Bill 675, also authored by Legarda, has the objective of planting one billion trees all over the Philippines to address the depletion of forests in the country.