Manila, Philippines – Geothermal leader, Energy Development Corporation (EDC), continues its corporate greening legacy with the 10th anniversary celebration of its BINHI initiative with a series of activities geared towards the realization of its 10 Million planted trees goal. This was culminated with its annual BINHI Day which was graced by its employees, executives, partners, and Miss Earth 2017, Karen Ibasco.
With over 200 employee and partner organization volunteers, EDC planted Balite, Tabugay, Taruy, Talo-ot, Pili, and Kube trees to help grow back the forests in Negros Island in celebration of Arbor Day and its BINHI anniversary.
Already on its 10th year, more than 2.5 million trees were have already been planted on over 3,000 hectares in Negros Island alone, with the help of EDC’s over 30 BINHI local partners; while on a national scale, EDC has planted over 6.3 million seedlings with the help of its 149 partners from 16 regions all over the country.
Unlike other corporate reforestation initiatives, EDC has taken its greening legacy to the next level with its strategic approach. In 2016, EDC’s BINHI team already identified, located, and collected samples of its 96 targeted threatened native tree species and have sought out to propagate them. In fact, earlier this year EDC launched 2 of its state-of-the-art automated nurseries called Vegetative Material Reproduction (VMR) facilities in Antipolo and Valencia, Negros Oriental, which mimic the conditions of a natural forest habitat.
“With BINHI, we celebrate trees and how vital they are to sustaining life on earth. Trees are the reason humans even exist in the world and are critical to our survival – our BINHI Program knows this,” said Ms. Cedie Lopez-Vargas, Director for Lopez Memorial Museum, during the annual BINHI celebration.
“We don’t plant trees just for corporate social responsibility. We plant trees because we need to; their last breath may well be our last too,” added Lopez-Vargas.
BINHI is EDC’s forest restoration program that aims to bring back to abundance premium endangered native trees and to bridge forest gaps through a holistic, scientific, and multi-pronged approach.
Apart from its tree planting initiatives, EDC also conducted a river clean-up for its Bacon-Manito Geothermal Project, which gathered 133 volunteers from the company, the LGU, members of the Alliance of Bacman Farmers Association, Inc. (ALBAFAI), the Philippine Army, senior citizens, and residents. The Rizal River clean-up is part of the Adopt-an-Estero program of the DENR- Environmental Management Bureau (EMB), which aims to improve the quality of the river systems through community mobilization, in partnership with the private sector. The Rizal River was included in the Adopt-an-Estero program through a Memorandum of Agreement between the DENR-EMB, the LGU of Sorsogon City, and EDC.
EDC is the world’s largest vertically integrated geothermal company and the only diversified renewable energy firm in the country. The company has over 40 years of leadership in generating geothermal energy, the only form of RE that can provide baseload power 24/7.