Youth, local government, farmers and environment groups launched a new movement for the country’s dwindling forests on the foothills of Mounts Banahaw-San Cristobal in Laguna province on July 14.
Forests for Life (FFL) movement aims to bring back biodiversity in the country’s rainforests with the help of all sectors and people from all walks of life. The launch comes as excessive rains begin to hit the country, exacerbated by climate change.
“Even though San Cristobal is far from the coast, our actions here will have an impact on the ecosystem downstream,” said Noel Resurreccion, Conservation Site Action manager of the Haribon Foundation, one of the members of the FFL movement.
To culminate the launch, a tree planting was held inside the Mounts Banahaw-San Cristobal Protected Landscape. Volunteers from various sectors joined the planting activity, including participants from Cebu Pacific. The seedlings were provided by local community groups San Cristobal Farmer’s Association (SCFA) and the San Cristobal Young Farmers.
“Our activity today is called planting, giving life and protecting. We will not abandon our seedlings until they are capable of growing on their own,” explained Salud Pangan, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Protected Area Superintendent of the Mounts Banahaw-San Cristobal Protected Landscape.
According to Haribon Foundation, the Philippines has lost more than 75 percent of its forest cover since the 1900s.
“We are past the 40-percent minimum needed to support water-related functions alone. To ensure that all ecological benefits and services are addressed, we need more than half of the country to be covered in forest, or at least 54 percent. Benefits include provision of water resulting in the decreased occurrence of landslide,” Haribon said.
The launch celebrates 13 years of organizing communities for forest restoration. Previously called Rainforestation Organization and Advocates to 2020, the roots of Forests For Life movement go back to the National Consultation on Rainforest Restoration in 2005.
Experts at the consultation shared that deforestation and the rampant use of exotic species for reforestation were growing threats to biodiversity in the country. As a result, the effects bring about landslides, invasive species and increased vulnerability to changes in climate.
“Since then the movement to bring back forests has involved tree-planting campaigns, fund-raising drives to plant more trees, awareness-raising on the use of native species and enrollment of new and existing tree-planting sites by other communities,” Haribon said.
Participants to the launch included Haribon members and individual volunteers, Rain Forest Restoration Initiative, SCFA, San Cristobal Young Farmers, Samahan ng mga Mamamayang Nagsasaka para sa Kaunlaran ng Banahaw, Environment and Natural Resources Guards Inc., volunteers from Cebu Pacific, Honda Cars Philippines Inc., Pinnacle, National Power Corp., DENR, representative from the office of Laguna Gov. Ramil Hernandez, and other local government officials and offices.