8 July 2023, Laguna Quezon Land Grant, Siniloan, Laguna – Sierra Madre Mountain Range. The 4th bus and part of a much larger convoy arrived that early morning of July 8th, Saturday, and offloaded the last of the nearly 300 EcoWarriors from CONCENTRIX DAKSH SERVICES PHILIPPINES INCORPORATED to fulfill their “ONE TREE NATION” Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program by planting trees.

Thankfully, the sun shone through the slight rain showers that drizzled across the Training Center and campus of the Laguna Quezon Land Grant (LQLG), part of an over 9,000 hectares protected forest managed by FEED’s longest serving Living Legacy partner, the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB).

After freshening up and settling down with some Barako coffee, the participants were ready to hear three short welcome messages shared by CONCENTRIX, UPLB and FEED reps, keen to commence the morning trail walk leading to the reforestation work, since 1,500 native Philippine flowering and hardwood trees were to be planted before the forecasted rains were scheduled to arrive.

The program was opened with a lively Welcome by the Concentrix CSR sustainability team who helped organized the day’s success, from ocular inspection, to program design, up to planting and evaluation, which helped the forest guards rise up to the occasion to ensure a smooth program flow throughout.

“It was very evident from detailed talks with Concentrix (pre-pandemic), that their commitment to sustainability and community is a core part of their environmental advocacy, as they demonstrated their CSR vision into climate change action. We are grateful for partners like Concentrix, who trigger positive engagement and impact amongst many stakeholders; like us, they imagine, work and strive for a better future for all – through each one of us and by working together.” – FEED Advisor, Dra. Asuncion K. Raymundo, Professor Emeritus, UPLB 

FEED’s Director of Partnerships, Anne-Marie Mananquil Bakker, discussed the Ridge to REEForestation science and community-based approach of UPLB and FEED, which focuses on the empowerment of the growing team of 35 site-based forest guardians, who aside from their standard patrol and protect duties, also monitor and maintain typically 95% upwards survival of all species planted at the LQLG.  Alternative and sustainable livelihood modalities are critical to FEED’s and partner UPLB’s social forestry programs, capacity building of individuals being a cornerstone of their respective efforts across the board.

Forester Reynaldo E. Lorida, UPLB’s Field Supervisor in charge of administering the LQLG, described the Philippines devolution of forests nationwide, from the more than 90 percent lush forest cover in the 1900s down to the current estimates of 20 percent of the country’s total land area (27.5 million hectares).  “If every citizen of the Philippines planted a tree every year, we could add 100 million trees per year to combat deforestation, negative effects of urbanization/urban sprawl and unsustainable ‘development’,” he claimed. “But thanks to organizations like yours (i.e. Concentrix) who we can partner with to ensure our contribution together as a formidable part of the solution”.

CONCENTRIX representatives acknowledged the 300 strong team of participants particularly those who literally arrived straight out of their night shift duties, and others who woke up extra early to make it on time, to dedicating their time to showing commitment to the environment: “One action by one person is enough to trigger a wave of change, but together we can achieve greater impacts in our environmental advocacies; as a diver myself, I completely sympathise with the need to also protect our oceans, sea life up to and including corals;  so, we will hopefully all graduate into the various Ridge to REEF programs to appreciate the hard work that foresters, fisherfolks and farmers do for the protection of our water and food security. Thank you all and here’s to an enjoyable trek and planting!”

One the warm-up was completed to get everyone’s heart rate going, we did a pre-planting group picture and proceeded to the group trails, one team carrying out the tree planting and the second batch doing soil bagging at one of the main community nurseries, where several varieties of native Philippine forest trees are sourced – from saplings to wildlings –  collected and propagated in time for outplanting season, which happens to be year round thanks to the regular rains even during summer months.

Following a demonstration at the planting site, participants were shown how to debag, handle the roots of the seedlings with care, plant up to their root collar and compact the soil to ensure the seedlings withstand harsh winds and rains of the season.

Everyone was able to plant an average of 5 seedlings, from a host of different species:

• 300 bani
• 300 malalansones
• 250 malaruhat-puti
• 250 malaruhat-pula
• 100 malasantol
• 100 santol
• 200 kamagong

Several participants shared their positive feedback post event, claiming how proud they were to be there and to do their part, requesting more regular CSR outings that foster team-building, camraderie, environmental leadership and climate change action.

Others thanked the forest guards profusely for guiding everyone through a safe forest trail, demonstrating correct planting techniques and carrying out proper quality control post-planting to ensure the continued 95% survival of the 1,500 native seedlings planted.

The LQLG protected forest in Siniloan, Laguna is situated at the foothills/start of the Sierra Madre mountain range – which, is the longest mountain range barrier against the regular annual typhoons that strike the Eastern shores of Luzon, Philippines.

The Sierra Madres  are also attributed to protecting both upland and lowland ares from flash floods, hurricane level winds and other hazards by diminishing heavy winds and storm strengths by half their original force.

Thank you Concentrix Eco-Warriors for your commitment to sustainability!

Photo Collage

Videos

GPS Coordinates & Picture Gallery

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:

• https://www.gps-coordinates.net/
• https://gps-coordinates.org
• https://www.maps.ie/coordinates.html
• http://www.mapcoordinates.net/en

About Concentrix Philippines

For more details, visit: https://jobs.concentrix.com/global/en/country-page-philippines

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.

NATURE IS SPEAKING (Narrated by Julia Roberts)

What can I do to stop climate change?

“As the world warms, extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and intense, sea levels are rising, prolonged droughts are putting pressure on food crops, and many animal and plant species are being driven to extinction. It’s hard to imagine what we as individuals can do to resolve a problem of this scale and severity.

The good news: We are not alone. People, communities, cities, businesses, schools, faith groups and other organizations are taking action. We’re fighting like our lives depend on it — because they do.

In a world of more than seven billion people, each of us is a drop in the bucket. But with enough drops, we can fill any bucket.” –  David Suzuki

Check out some of the ways you can take more climate change action.

For example, Climate Action groups are the local solution to a global crisis. Right now people just like you are coming together to develop practical, local solutions and make their towns and cities more climate-friendly. Are you ready to join them? Find out what’s happening near you.

More here: https://friendsoftheearth.uk/climate-change/what-can-I-do-to-stop-climate-change

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.  Join us!  Help us reverse the Earth’s “hothouse climate” tipping point.

Tree-Planting with FEED

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.