16 November 2019, Laguna Quezon Land Grant, Siniloan, Laguna – Sierra Madre Mountain Range.
18 active Earth Warriors woke up at around 4:30 AM on Saturday, 16th of November 2019, to drive two and a half hours from Manila and around Laguna Lake, to trek up to about 1,350 ft deep into the Sierra Madres – longest mountain range in the Philippines and staunchest natural defence against persistent storms – to restore 360 indigenous forest trees to the protected forest of the Laguna Quezon Land Grant.
Forester Rey Lorida demonstrating to Data Words Philippines Earth Warriors how to debag the malaruhat seedling properly prior to planting in the open clearing at the LQLG, Siniloan, Laguna.
Forester Rey Lorida, Field Manager of the 5,719 hectare LQLG managed by FEED’s longest LIVING LEGACY partner the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), mentioned his surprise at their level of energy so early in the morning and despite the 2.5 hr journey: “Thank you on behalf of FEED and UPLB, for spending your Saturday away from home, family or vacation – to help us restore the rainforest that provides us all in the lowlands with freshwater, storm protection and biodiversity benefits from an ecosystem that is very grateful!”
Data Words Philippines participant Joyce Mae Orfanel – who also helped customize this Corporate Social Responsibility or CSR planting (e.g. trek pace, vegetarian Binalot and meals and certificates) – expressed in return her “thanks to the 28 permanent forest guards and community members from neighbouring Barangays Maunlad and Magsaysay, who help us with the full cycle of reforestation projects at LQLG”; from seedling and wildling collection; to nursery propagation, care and maintenance; to site preparations for small up to large scale corporate and industrial plantations; GPS tagging of forests; up to monitoring and reporting required by FEED and UPLB to its stakeholders.
Source: researchgate.net
Once the participants had arrived at the Station House of the LQLG, they received a welcome climate change talk about FEED and its “Ridge to Reef” (also known as “Summit to Sea“) approach adopted from the International Union of the Conservation of Nature (IUCN)* delivered by Pieter E.M. Bakker, FEED’s Strategy & Communications Advisor.
Another Data Words Philippines participant, Dr. Praveen Sarkar, mentioned how excited he was “to know that GPS coordinates would be provided so that he could monitor the mini-forest from anywhere in the world, remotely, via satellite imagery captured through Google Earth and other free software”, he could then observe his forest grow 20 years into the future and beyond.
*IUCN’s Protected Area Categories, Category V is the “Protected Landscape/Seascape”
“A protected area where the interaction of people and nature over time has produced an area of distinct character with significant ecological, biological, cultural and scenic value: and where safeguarding the integrity of this interaction is vital to protecting and sustaining the area and its associated nature conservation and other values.”
Primary objective
To protect and sustain important landscapes/seascapes and the associated nature conservation and other values created by interactions with humans through traditional management practices.
Other objectives
- To maintain a balanced interaction of nature and culture through the protection of landscape and/or seascape and associated traditional management approaches, societies, cultures and spiritual values;
- To contribute to broad-scale conservation by maintaining species associated with cultural landscapes and/or by providing conservation opportunities in heavily used landscapes;
- To provide opportunities for enjoyment, well-being and socio-economic activity through recreation and tourism;
- To provide natural products and environmental services;
- To provide a framework to underpin active involvement by the community in the management of valued landscapes or seascapes and the natural and cultural heritage that they contain;
- To encourage the conservation of agrobiodiversity and aquatic biodiversity;
- To act as models of sustainability so that lessons can be learnt for wider application.
Distinguishing features
Category V protected areas result from biotic, abiotic and human interaction and should have the following essential characteristics:
- Landscape and/or coastal and island seascape of high and/or distinct scenic quality and with significant associated habitats, flora and fauna and associated cultural features;
- A balanced interaction between people and nature that has endured over time and still has integrity, or where there is reasonable hope of restoring that integrity;
- Unique or traditional land-use patterns, e.g., as evidenced in sustainable agricultural and forestry systems and human settlements that have evolved in balance with their landscape.
The following are desirable characteristics:
- Opportunities for recreation and tourism consistent with life style and economic activities;
- Unique or traditional social organizations, as evidenced in local customs, livelihoods and beliefs;
- Recognition by artists of all kinds and in cultural traditions (now and in the past);
- Potential for ecological and/or landscape restoration.
Role in the landscape/seascape
- Generally, category V protected areas play an important role in conservation at the landscape/seascape scale, particularly as part of a mosaic of management patterns, protected area designations and other conservation mechanisms:
- Some category V protected areas act as a buffer around a core of one or more strictly protected areas to help to ensure that land and water-use activities do not threaten their integrity;
- Category V protected areas may also act as linking habitat between several other protected areas.
Category V offers unique contributions to conservation of biological diversity. In particular:
- Species or habitats that have evolved in association with cultural management systems and can only survive if those management systems are maintained;
- To provide a framework when conservation objectives need to be met over a large area (e.g., for top predators) in crowded landscapes with a range of ownership patterns, governance models and land use;
- In addition, traditional systems of management are often associated with important components of agrobiodiversity or aquatic biodiversity, which can be conserved only by maintaining those systems.
Thank you Data Words Philippines Global Earth Keepers!
| 1. Lester Paul Cruz | 11. Eddu Calubad |
| 2. Eldon Galvante | 12. Security1 |
| 3. Joyce Mae Orfanel | 13. Security2 |
| 4. Marilyn Encinares | 14. Nurse 1 |
| 5. Lian Jamaica Akang | 15. Mary Ann Cruz |
| 6. Anna Dominique Rueda | 16. Erin Abellano |
| 7. Ma. Analene Roxas | 17. Jen Cuaresma |
| 8. Michael Bibat | 18. Dr. Praveen Sarkar |
| 9. Rommel Lumilan | 19. Niteen Tilwankar |
| 10. Garry Taneo |
GPS Images & Coordinates
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- 14 28′ 38.03″N 121 31′ 21.68″E
- 14 28′ 37.92″N 121 31′ 22.72″E
- 14 28′ 37.34″N 121 31′ 22.78″E
- 14 28′ 37.42″N 121 31′ 21.68″E
Use any GPS (Global Positioning System) software / applications to input the latitude and longitude coordinates to be able to remotely see the location of your trees planted. Some examples include:
Photo Journal (Slideshow)
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CONTACT FEED
In 2015, the Philippine government submitted to the United Nations the country’s commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The country committed to reduce its carbon emissions by 70 percent by 2030. The carbon dioxide reductions will come from the sectors of energy, transport, waste, forestry and industry.
FEED runs a number of Students and Volunteers for the Environment (SAVE); Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) – such as mangrove planting for coastal protection or ridge reforestation plantings; One Child, One Tree; Bio-Intensive Gardens (BIG) for nutrition in public elementary schools and other spaces; Climate Change Survival 101 and other LIVING LEGACY programs – customised environmental engagement activities for individuals and organisations interested in contributing to climate change adaptation efforts and greening critical areas such as watersheds, ridges, and reefs that all require rehabilitation.
Join us! Help us reverse the Earth’s “hothouse climate” tipping point.
Tree-Planting with FEED
Check out the video journey by Clueless Commuter who planted with us last 24th of June 2017 to get a good idea of how FEED plantings go: https://youtu.be/KROn4rjVqBg
Contact us at FEED for more details, to join our regular activities or to design your own tree-nurturing event: info@feed.org.ph or call/text +63 (0)917 552 4722.
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