ILOILO – Re-greening program “Tanum Iloilo” of the provincial government has planted nearly four million tree seedlings since 2019, according to Mitzi Peñaflorida, senior environmental management specialist of the Provincial Government Environment and Natural Resources Office (PGENRO).
Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr. launched “Tanum Iloilo” as a continuity program to his predecessor father, former governor Arthur Defensor Sr.’s reforestation campaign called Action for Re-Greening and Transformation for Climate Change Adaptation (ART for CCA). The goal is to plant 1.5 million trees each year.
The most preferred trees for planting are the native ones (such as narra, molave, ilang-ilang, and kamagong) and the fruit-bearing (such as jackfruit, santol, pomelo, lanzones, tamarind, chico, atis, babana, star apple, avocado, mabolo, and lomboy).
According to Peñaflorida, the planting goal is being achieved yearly but the bigger challenge is ensuring that the tree seedlings survive, grow and thrive.
The survival rate is 70 percent – 10 percent less than the 80 percent standard survival rate, said Peñaflorida.
A tree seedling is considered to have survived if it still stands three years after planting, she added. “Ang mga leaves ya complete.”
Who checks the progress of the planted tree seedlings?
PGENRO has monitoring teams that coordinate with town and barangay officials, said Peñaflorida.
She also urged Ilonggos not to throw away the seeds of fruits they have eaten but instead grown them into seedlings which they could later on plant./PN
