WORDS have meanings and the wrong interpretation of words could result in the wrong outcomes.
Add to that the fact that development programs need to have an overall framework, otherwise the outcome could either be wrong or it would fall short of actual development needs.
Perhaps this is what happened in the case of countless ātree plantingā initiatives all over the country over the past many years. Of course it is obvious that reforestation needs more than just planting trees. As a matter of fact, reforestation needs more than just planting a few trees here and there.
Going back to the basics, the clear objective of reforestation is to grow back the trees in specific areas of what used to be the forest. Going direct to the point, reforestation should have percentage targets in terms of how much percent of the deforested areas should be reforested.
Anyone can plant a seedling, but not everyone can grow a tree. That is just like saying that any woman can bear a baby, but not every mother can raise a child.
It may just be a matter of semantics, but strictly speaking, we are really planting seedlings and not trees. And if it is really a tree that we are referring to, we should already call it replanting trees and not planting trees. And if it is a seed that we are talking about, we should just call it sowing seeds of trees and not planting seeds.
Pardon the exaggeration of meanings, but I just want to get to the bottom of the problem, as to why so many ātree plantingā initiatives have failed before in the past.
While on a trip to Thailand many years ago to visit some orchards, I noticed how a farm worker was watering a coconut tree. My first reaction was that the farm worker was probably stupid, but then I realized that a coconut tree or any other tree for that matter needs water to grow, and for it to grow well, it should have a supply of water that should not be left to the incidence of rain alone.
In other words, that Thai farm worker was actually the right thing, because he was probably doing it at a time of the year when rains were hard to come by, and the coconut trees had to be watered some other way. Later on, in that same trip, I found out that Thai farm workers actually apply fertilizers on the coconut trees also, something that we almost never do here in the Philippines.
Six African nations have committed to reforest at least 78.3 million acres in the African continent, and four more countries are in line to join the program. The African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR100) has been officially adopted by the African Union and more than 1.5 billion dollars have been pledged by various international organizations to fund the initiative.
AFR100 was announced at the 21st meeting of the Conference of Partners (COP21), the meeting in Paris where an agreement was finally reached by participating countries to reduce carbon emissions as a strategy to reverse global warning that is the cause of climate change.
According to the Global Restoration Initiative (GRI) at the World Resources Institute (WRI), there are about 700 million hectares in the African continent that could be restored to natural forests or areas with some form of agroforestry.
GRI cited deforestation, loss of soil nutrients, erosion and overgrazing as some of the contributing factors that prevent full environmental and economic productivity. (To be continued/PN)
