17 December 2021, Laguna Quezon Land Grant, Siniloan, Laguna. The National Reinsurance Corporation of the Philippines (Nat Re), the country’s national reinsurer), added another 500 trees to their Sierra Madre forest, continuing their Corporate Social Responsibility and commitment to sustainability last December 17th, 2021.

In 2019, Nat Re previously planted almost 400 seedlings in the same area under the theme “We are SEEDING (Socially Engaged in Environmental Development) the future” – Nat Re’s advocacy covering environmental preservation, restoration and bio-diversification of ecosystem services in the Philippines.

“We in Nat Re are fully committed to our role as an environmental steward and a contributor to the achievement of universal sustainability goals. Building on our 2019 work, we have expanded our planting site, adding more areas set for land and agro-forestry restoration, and contributing to further sustainable livelihood development for surrounding communities,” said Allan R. Santos, Nat Re President and Chief Executive Officer.

Seedlings planted included:0 Malaruhat (250), Bani (150) and White Lauan (100), by community forest guardians: Randy Velina, Larry Rizaldo, Joel Velina, Roger Glipo, Ariel Atip, Jimlie Ortega, Renato De Leon, Ronjienvel Aurin, Gilbert Ryan Ella and Elmer Dayandante.

We are grateful to Nat Re, a staunch CSR Patron of Education & Environment, demonstrating continued commitment to our partnership support of biodiversity & conservation, watershed management and community development. Thank you in particular to Nat Re’s Ecowarriors who helped organize this environmental engagement with us:

• Franz de la Fuente, Corporate Communications, Branding;
• Special Projects Officer Faye Agsaway, Office Services Manager; and
• Rico Camince, Infrastructure Support Officer.

May the Forest be with Nat Re Always!

On Carbon Sequestration – How Much CO2 can our trees absorb?

Trees are often referred to as the “lungs of the Earth” as they are able to store carbon and produce oxygen, which is essential to many life forms.  Trees also stabilise soil and reduce air temperature and humidity, whilst also reducing flooding and improving water quality. Without trees, most fauna and flora would not survive, what more humans?

It is widely accepted that a typical tree can absorb around 22 kilograms of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year when in fully grown status, meaning that saplings, seedlings and younger trees – whether mangroves or primary or secondary forest trees – absorb around half, so conservatively say 11 kgs per year (also widely used by most international forestry agencies around the world).

So, over a lifetime of a tropical tree (100 years), one tree can absorb around 1 tonne of CO2. Although this figure seems large, it should be measured in perspective: to date we humans generate around 40 billions tonnes of CO2 each year on Earth. Which means, that we need to plant 40 billion trees annually to offset these emissions.

Even if we could, though, land availability for agriculture and farming, including livestock production – one of the largest, increasing land conversion threats worldwide aside from urbanisation – would be significantly reduced. Which then translates into water and food security challenges, among others, but not limited to e.g.:  urbanization and lack of city spaces leads to housing and commercial developments in critical watersheds, thereby threatening our fresh water supply and declining forest cover; or agricultural pollution threatening crops and livestocks, affecting poultry, dairy, pork and beef food production systems, and so on and so forth.

All said, we are grateful to Nat Re and every other FEED partner and patron who enable community based reforestation to take place.  Nat Re’s 500 trees added to their already 370 planted last November 2019, and another 70 airplants for the office designed by their staff last August 2019. If we combine the trees alone, Nat Re’s cumulative 870 upland native Philippine trees are going to offset* 870 tonnes of CO2 in their lifetime.

*A carbon offset is a reduction or removal of emissions of carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases made in order to compensate for emissions made elsewhere. Offsets are measured in tonnes of carbon dioxide-equivalent. One ton of carbon offset represents the reduction or removal of one ton of carbon dioxide or its equivalent in other greenhouse gases. (Wikipedia, 2022)

 

KUDOS TO ALL NAT RE EARTH KEEPERS, May the Forest be with you all, always!

Related Articles:

• Hidden Benefits of Urban Gardening @ Work: Nat Re Sponsors Air Plants for Staff Health & Well-Being (2 Aug 2019)
• SEEDing the Future: 31 Nat Re Earth Warriors Add 370 Native Trees to Protect Sierra Madre Watershed (9 Nov 2019)

GPS Coordinates & Picture Gallery

Planting trees could buy more time to fight climate change than thought

Earth has 0.9 billion hectares that are suitable for new forests.

By Susan Milius

JULY 17, 2019 AT 9:02 AM

LIGHTSCAPE/UNSPLASH

A whopping new estimate of the power of planting trees could rearrange to-do lists for fighting climate change.

Planting trees on 0.9 billion hectares of land could trap about two-thirds the amount of carbon in the atmosphere that’s come from human activities since the start of the Industrial Revolution, a new study finds. The planet has that much tree-friendly land available for use. Without knocking down cities or taking over farms or natural grasslands, reforested pieces could add up to new tree cover totaling just about the area of the United States, researchers report in the July 5 Science.

 

The new calculation boosts tree planting to a top priority for gaining some time to fight climate change, says coauthor Tom Crowther, an ecologist at ETH Zurich. The study used satellite images to see how densely trees grow naturally in various ecosystems. Extrapolating from those images showed how much forest similar land could support. Plant a mix of native species, he urges. That will help preserve the birds, insects and other local creatures.

The analysis revealed space to nourish enough trees to capture some 205 metric gigatons of carbon in about a century. That’s close to 10 times the savings expected from managing refrigerants, the top item on a list of climate-fighting strategies from the nonprofit Project Drawdown, a worldwide network of scientists, advocates and others proposing solutions to global warming.

The benefit of tree planting will shrivel if people wait, the researchers warn. Earth’s climate could change enough by 2050 to shrink the places trees can grow by some 223 million hectares if the world keeps emitting greenhouse gases as it does now, the analysis suggests.

 

More trees here
A map of the planet’s potential to support new forests avoids cities, farmlands and natural grasslands to rate the remaining land as likely to support low (yellow) to high (blue) canopy cover.

CROWTHER LAB/ETH ZURICH

Still, storing carbon is only one of the ways that trees could affect climate, says Cat Scott, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Leeds in England who was not involved in the research. Just how these other factors play off each other is not yet clear. She and colleagues have developed computer simulations of trees contributing to cooling a landscape by releasing airborne molecules that invite clouds to form.

Even something as simple as the darkness of tree leaves can change how much heat a landscape absorbs or reflects. Expanding forests into formerly snow-bright, reflective zones, for instance, might warm them. In the tropics, however, the enhanced cooling from clouds might be the more powerful effect.

Ultimately, in the struggle against climate change, such heroic tree planting merely “buys us time,” says study coauthor Jean-François Bastin, also an ecologist at ETH Zurich. But that’s time human societies could use to stop emitting greenhouse gases, the real solution to climate change, he says.

Source: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/planting-trees-could-buy-more-time-fight-climate-change-thought

 

About Nat Re

Our Life Business

We help our clients develop new products for new markets or new distribution, create marketing plans, build underwriting and administration capabilities, and review and refine products.

Our team members’ extensive experience in direct writing companies affords us the ability to refine pricing to match with the appropriate underwriting approach of the chosen distribution and/or market.

We offer traditional reinsurance of mortality and morbidity risks, medical reinsurance, catastrophe, and coinsurance. Our strength is in Group Insurance where credit life and employee benefit lines dominate.

Our Non-Life Business

We offer a comprehensive range of reinsurance arrangements covering motor, property, casualty, marine, and surety. We offer tailored solutions to help our clients manage their risks and grow their portfolio through treaty and facultative reinsurance programs, as well as provide support for the development of insurance products and services.

We promote the development of the local insurers by providing a mechanism for the distribution of risks to allow companies to maximize retention and reduce portfolio volatility

Through our established local presence, knowledge of regulations, and familiarity with market players and practices, we are able to provide global reinsurers with an efficient platform for access to the local market for the distribution of products and services, deployment of underwriting capacity, and delivery of related services to local insurers.

For more details, visit: https://www.nat-re.com/

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.

© Fostering Education & Environment for Development, Inc.