Tree Planting Success: 3.2 Million Trees in 1 Hour

3.3 MILLION TREE PLANTING IN THE PHILIPPINES

If there is a challenge worth organizing by different mountaineering clubs, environmentalist and volunteers, it is tree planting challenge.

3.2 MILLION TREE PLANTING

This news resurfaced again, thanks to social media. Back in 2014, I didn’t hear about this tree planting news that there were 3.2 million trees planted in one hour in Mindanao, Philippines. 160,000 people including government employees, students and volunteers participated in the tree planting drive in six different areas in Mindanao headed by the Department of Environmental and Natural Resources Agency. The trees planted were a mix of commercial crops like rubber trees, cacao and coffee as well as forest varieties. These were chosen because it would help in the livelihood of the locals.

PHILIPPINE BIODIVERSITY

The Philippines biodiversity is very rich, in fact it is one of the 17 mega-diverse countries due to its geographical isolation, diverse habitats and high rates of endemism with about sixteen new mammal species discovered in just over ten years. An example is that 35 percent of the 580 recorded birds can only be found in the Philippines. According to Philippine Biodiversity Management Bureau, the Philippines is a hosts to more than 52,177 described species and more than half of this is found nowhere else in the world.  

According to the Philippines’ 2013 Forest Management Bureau Forestry report, the country’s forest cover is around 23.89%. From 1934 to 1988, Philippines lost around 10 million hectares forest cover which is equivalent to 227 million basketball courts. The Philippines is a one of the top global conservation areas as it is considered a biodiversity hotspot with at least 700 threatened species. The country’s resources continue to experience an alarming rate of destruction due to deforestation, land degradation, overexploitation, climate change and pollution, among others.

Deforestation in the Philippines is the leading cause of habitat destruction which greatly impacts biodiversity. This results to a large number of threatened and endangered species; an example is the Great Philippine eagle which is critically endangered. Philippine eagle is among the rarest, tallest and most powerful birds in the world has been declared the Philippine National Bird and it can be only found on four major islands, Samar, Eastern Luzon, Leyte and Mindanao. Don’t ever think of catching the Philippine eagle, killing one could imprison you for 12 years and a hefty fine.

PALAWAN, “THE LAST FRONTIER”

Palawan is dubbed “the Last Frontier” because it has the biggest forest cover in the country and thousands of kilometers of its forest and coastlines are still unexplored. Palawan has more diverse wildlife than the rest of the country. However, these days, the ecosystem of Palawan is also being threatened due to rapid urbanization, logging and hunting. Among these is the 80,000 acre Cleopatra’s Needle, one of the island’s highest peaks.  Cleopatra’s needle is a host of eighty five percent of Palawan’s endemic species.

66 MILLION TREE PLANTING

On July 2, 2017 India took another initiative of 66 million tree planting in 12 hours. Around 1.5 million volunteers participated in the environmental campaign. They have also done this tree planting in 2016 with 50 million trees in Uttar Pradesh, Northern India.

Deforestation in India is one of the major major environmental issues and in 2009 it is ranked top 10 worldwide in the amount of forest loss. India vowed to increase their forest cover to just over 95 million hectares by 2030, as part of the Paris Climate Change Conference.

VAN MAHOTSAV

Van Mahotsav is also known as forest day, was launched in 1950. Van Mahotsav is a week-long festival of tree planting every year in the month of July all across India and hundreds of thousands of trees are planted. This was aimed to create enthusiasm in the popular mind for tree planting and preservation of forest.

This environmental program is what we need after all; tree is a source of life. Tree planting is very important because we need trees in our survival.

Go out and plant a tree!