16 June 2022, Siniloan, Laguna, Sierra Madre Mountain Range.  “Terroir means land or soil in French, the birthplace from which all our products take their character from. We are very proud that our brands are so deeply rooted in their countries of origin and play such an important role in the local communities where they are created. We source our natural ingredients from over 250,000 hectares of land across the globe, so we are committed to nurturing every terroir and its biodiversity.” (Source: Pernod Ricard on Nurturing Terroir)

On 16 June 2022, 55 of Pernod Ricard Philippines, Inc.’s eco-warriors braved the hot morning sun and humid afternoon approaching rains to plant their 1,000 native Philippine tree seedlings in their forest in the Sierra Madre mountain range, at the Laguna-Quezon Land Grant (LQLG) – part of an over 9,000 hectare protected forest managed with FEED’s first and longest Living Legacy partner the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB).

Forester Reynaldo E. Lorida (pictured right), field supervisor at the LQLG commented:  “This is a company with a global footprint and a local heart. We are privileged to plant with people who understand the hardships of protecting all that we plant over these thousands of hectares of forest, including communities with whom we work to ensure the continued preservation of biodiversity in flora and fauna in the Sierra Madres – our first barrier protecting us from the southeastern storms worsening every year. They rightfully place importance on livelihood or socio-economic support to the community and our expanding capacity building efforts, so together we can all achieve more impact in ensuring the highest level of survival of species in our ecosystem”.

The 55 enthusiastic participants had a debrief given by Forester Rey on our collaborative efforts in restoring the Sierra Madres with the local communities; after which we commenced a reasonably-paced trek up the ridge facilitated by 12 forest guardians who are usually otherwise on permanent monitoring and maintenance patrol throughout the 9,000 plus hectares.

Demonstrating partnership in action (Sustainable Development Goal 17),  FEED’s Director of Partnerships, Anne Mananquil Bakker noted: “From their arrival at site, following the trek,  debagging and planting demo, Pernod Ricard’s appreciation for nature became even more evident; despite being fully equipped with planting gear – i.e.  bamboo shovels from LQLG’s sustainable bambusetum and gloves provided by the company – these EcoWarriors went straight to planting once their music started pumping groovy tunes – super gung ho and concentrated!  Everyone found their spot to plant an average 20 seedlings each, with huge smiles on their faces. Part of their joy in planting came from appreciating and knowing the origins of the value of that seedling being nurtured by the community. Their vibe was contaminating!”.

After completing the planting of their 1,000 tree forest, and finishing several photo opportunities (to be able to compare before and after planting pics), the trek back to base camp was much quicker, as the participants anticipated the generous feast of native adobo binalot wrapped in banana leaf, fried local fish  from Quezon Province, chopsuey mixed veggies and fresh buko juice from the same mountain accompanied the local delicacies of gulaman and rice cake for desert. Making the hard sweat, tears and mud well worth the early morning wakeup call.

What was even more amazing was that they also donated an additional P30,000 to the forest guards in support of whatever requirements they needed, which they used to purchase raincoats for patrols across the 9000 hectares, hammocks and forest protection uniforms – making our Bantay Gubat team so grateful.

During the closing ceremonies and certificate awarding after lunch, Pernod Ricard’s Managing Director, Fadil Tasgin (pictured above) graciously honored the forest guard teams on the ground whose permanent job is not only to patrol and guard our forests, but to maintain, monitor and report back on the progress of the newly planted baby seedlings, otherwise the planting would not have been worth any value. “Achieving not only high survival rates, but providing community expertise, knowledge, tools and a way forward in ecosystem protection is the reason we chose to plant here today. Knowing that climate change is only getting worse, it is thanks to people like Forester Rey Lorida and the forest guardians who will remain long after we have left, for ensuring that our joint efforts do not go to waste. You have our respect and gratitude, and we wish you more power in all you do that contributes to our safe, our health and our well being! We hope to be back and do more with you!”

Thank you Pernod Ricard Philippines EcoWarriors!

In mid-April 2022, Pernod Ricard Philippines, Inc. contacted FEED to explore a partnership in sustainability, beyond just tree planting, since their business focus includes people and planet, centering their corporate ethos in all aspects of their operations on “Sustainability and Responsibility“, working with thousands of farmers around the world. The leadership team shared the objectives of their planting, which was one of thousands of other advocacies being carried out by the entire company on the same day in different parts of the world – what they coin “Responsib’All Day”.

Source: Pernod Ricard Responsib’All Day https://www.pernod-ricard-usa.com/sustainability

“Every year, Pernod Ricard employees from our 85 affiliates across the globe stop business for a day to engage in 100+ local community projects, setting aside their daily tasks to focus on bringing “good times from a good place.” This event reflects the spirit of convivialité at Pernod Ricard: employees share their best practices and provide a renewed boost to projects that have been developed throughout the year.” (Source: https://www.pernod-ricard-usa.com/sustainability)

The objectives of Pernod Ricard Philippines’ planting program are to:

• Share global and local progress on our Good Times from a Good Place S&R strategy;
• Educate and inspire our employees around our Nurturing Terroir pillar and the theme (learning);
• Contribute something meaningful and tangible to our local communities and/or environment (doing);
• Enable employees to come together, have fun and take action on something they care about(sharing); and
• Strengthen the Pernod Ricard reputation as a sustainable leader.

PERNOD RICARD PHILIPPINES THEME FOR 2022: Helping to protect and restore nature and biodiversity – “NURTURING TERROIR”

• Focusing this year’s Responsib’All Day on nature will enable us to raise awareness among our employees of the importance of protecting and restoring nature and its biodiversity, celebrate some of the things we’ve done, learn from local organizations and help make a difference in our local environment and communities.
• Climate change, biodiversity loss, air pollution, soil erosion, water scarcity… nature has reached a tipping point and yet it is the most precious thing we have. This is also true for us at Pernod Ricard as all our products take their character from the land where they were grown. We produce and source over 100 ingredients from more than 65 countries to create our iconic brands. That is why we are committed to nurturing every terroir and its biodiversity and responding to the challenges of climate change. 

Pernod Ricard’s global press release, click here: 2022-06-16-ResponsiballDay-Global-EN.

PERNOD RICARD Photo Collage, Laguna Quezon Land Grant, 16 June 2022

FEED Planting Photo Collage, Laguna Quezon Land Grant, 16 June 2022