A NONGOVERNMENT organization is eyeing more advocates for the protection of Philippine forest among young Filipinos. And the Forest Foundation Philippines (FFP) is staring at those in the urban center who must start at knowing first what they should be protecting.
“You cannot protect what you do not know,” FFP Executive Director Andres A. Canivel said before leading a hike at the La Mesa Eco Park.
The La Mesa Eco Park, on its own, despite being located within the Metro Manila, holds a fairly diverse collection of flora with at least 520 plant species thriving within the area. The Eco Park is also home to plant species that are currently undergoing rehabilitation.
The FFP, hence, deemed the La Mesa Eco Park as the most ideal place to hold the first activity of its Best Friends of the Forest (BFF) Movement. Canivel, a lawyer, told the BusinessMirror there would be more activities like this, as FFP aggressively promotes the Philippines’s biodiversity.
The FFP is organizing the BFF Movement as a community of environmentalists, travel enthusiast, social entrepreneurs and artists who aim to encourage people to protect the forests through its established “Passion Points,” namely, conservation, social entrepreneurship, arts and culture, and ecotourism.
The BFF Movement had already conducted an activity for two of its passion points: social entrepreneurship as well as arts and culture, through the movement’s first-ever BFF Talks last July. Through the hike at the La Mesa Eco Park, the BFF Movement managed to hit the remaining passion points at once.
During the hourlong hike, participants were introduced to different plant species thriving within the Eco Park, their different characteristics and how each contributes to the country’s ecology.
Known to be one of the world’s biodiversity hot spot, the Philippines is home to 52,177 described species and more than half of them are endemic to the country.
Trail guides from the University of the Philippines Mountaineers also emphasized the importance of replanting these species.
“Our country will benefit more on the ecological aspect if reforestation programs started using and replanting exotic trees, since endemic birds and plant species tend to flock more to trees they feel familiar with rather [than to] big trees that are foreign to them,” Canivel said.
Unfortunately, most reforestation programs are focused on the economic aspect, or on what they could get from the trees they are replanting, rather than how these trees would affect our environment, he added.
Through these activities, the FPP hopes Filipino youth would advocate for the reforestation of these species.
“Start your trail toward sustainability and forest conservation,” Canivel said.
Image credits: Forest Foundation