ILOILO City – The city government plans to grow fruit-bearing trees along the banks of the floodway in Jaro district.
The banks on either side of the floodway stretch to some nine kilometers, according to Executive Assistant for Environment Armand Dayrit.
The city government also mulls planting narra trees in other parts of the city.
“We envision small forest areas but we’ll call it botanical areas. We cannot really duplicate a forest,” said Dayrit.
The city government nursery currently has around 7,000 seedlings of mostly fruit-bearing trees.
Dayrit said taking care of the environment is one of the Treñas administration’s priorities.
Last week, Treñas planted a tree at Plaza Libertad. He vowed to sustain the city government’s tree planting program as “one of the mitigation (measures) against climate change”.
“I already requested the (City) Budget Officer to look for funds para nga ma-assign kita sang mga tawo nga ma-in-charge sa itanom nga kahoy,” said Treñas.
The head of the City Environment and Natural Resources Office, Noel Hechanova, said one of his assignments is to establish a “tree park”.
“If we have a place where we can plant trees, then the place could create its own ecology. The public has a place to visit and they would understand what a forest is,” Hechanova said.
The park could form part of the school curriculum in science or biology or any other subject where it can be integrated, he added.
Hechanova said his office would be look for a donor for even just a hectare of land that can be converted into an urban forest.
The donor must be willing to do away with the property for at least 25 years or even permanently, he said, adding that they have to think of an incentive that could be extended to the donor./PN
