05 August 2023, Laguna Quezon Land Grant, Siniloan, Laguna. Under the FSDV’s “Live the High Five Experience” slogan, 23 Eco-Warriors from the Financial Supervision
Department V (FSDV) of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) took part in a community-based reforestation program as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) advocacy on August 5th at the Laguna Quezon Land Grant – part of an over 9,000 hectare protected forest managed by FEED’s longest Living Legacy partner the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), planting 360 indigenous Philippine tropical forest trees, namely: Malaruhat (100), Malasantol (100), Palong Maria (100) and Bani (60).
During the introduction of Forester Rey Lorida (Field Supervisor II of the LQLG, pictured below 2nd from right), he shared his personal and professional experience in the evolution of this part of the Sierra Madre foothills, on the history of the Philippines’ deforestation, the status of the country’s upland and coastal forests to date, and how “we can build climate resilience through inclusive social forestry programs, for example, the production of legal and certified charcoal making (versus rampant unsustainable harvesting practices and other risky illegal activities)”.
Anne Bakker (FEED’s Partnerships Director, pictured above far right) also re-emphasized FEED’s “Ridge to REEForestation” community-based planting approach, one inspired by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN): “At the end of the end, it’s all about livelihood and poverty alleviation, providing sustainable alternatives through capacity building and human empowerment, such as skills development/upgrading, job security and qualified, proven to work livelihood opportunities in the forest. These communities are proving it not only can be – but must be – done, even in biodiversity conservation and for their grandchildren to be safe too”.
Though typically on duty patrolling the over 9,000 hectares of UP land grants, some of the forest guards (pictured above in uniform) were pulled in to help in site preparation carried out a day in advance (site clearing, hold digging, seedling propagation and transport, appropriate spacing) and also to facilitate with the participants’ trail walk to site and the planting itself: Randy Velina, Roger Glipo, Cyrill Guiaya, Jimlie Ortega, Teotimo Argete, Rodante Rasay, Shermae Canzana, Mery Rose Bocado, Darwin Bacasen, Mark Ian Beatriz and Arnel Lavides.
A typical example of forest guards reforestation work can be seen in this video:
Thank you FSDV Eco-Warriors for your enthusiasm, commitment and hard work – May the Forest be with you always!
Photo Collage & GPS Coordinates
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:
About the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP)
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is the central bank of the Republic of the Philippines. It was established on 3 July 1993 pursuant to the provisions of the 1987 Philippine Constitution and the New Central Bank Act of 1993. The BSP took over from Central Bank of Philippines, which was established on 3 January 1949, as the country’s central monetary authority. The BSP enjoys fiscal and administrative autonomy from the National Government in the pursuit of its mandated responsibilities.
For more details, visit: bsp.gov.ph
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 (say 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.
Thank you FSDV for enabling another community-based reforestation to take place, may the forest be with you all, always!
Source: sustainabletravel.org
*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)
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
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.
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