KALIBO, Aklan – The country’s geothermal energy giant will support the government in restoring a wetland in the world-famous Boracay Island.
The Energy Development Corp. (EDC) entered into a memorandum of agreement with the the Department of Environment and Natural Resources last month.
The EDC, through its flagship environmental program BINHI, committed to adopt Wetland No. 2 – a 7.79-hectare area in Barangay Balabag.
Only native trees will be planted and grown in the wetland, according to the DENR.
The EDC will put up an arboretum and an information center for visitors in the wetland.
It also plans to build a bird-watch platform that will allow visitors to view birds and bats spotted in the area.
The partnership between the DENR and EDC will last for three years.
The EDC, through BINHI, has successfully located samples of 96 priority threatened native species in the Philippines.
These samples were collected and are currently being propagated in EDC’s state-of-the-art automated nurseries in Antipolo and Negros Oriental.
“The 96 native tree species have become increasingly rare. Some were even last seen in 1911. Hence, they were believed to be already extinct,” said EDC chief operating officer Richard Tantoco.
“Through our BINHI team’s hard work, these 96 species were found, and we are now working towards propagating these. This partnership with the DENR is another way for us to increase the numbers of these tree species and restore the nature of Boracay,” he added.
EDC is one of the world’s largest vertically integrated geothermal companies and the only diversified renewable energy firm in the country, with an installed total capacity of 1,456.8 megawatts of purely renewable energy. (With a report from PNA/PN)
