Source : Manila Times, Philippines, 23 Oct '07
By : Tony Lopez
  

Toyota takes its “today is tomorrow” or a greener world seriously. In 1997, it launched the world’s first mass production gasoline-electric hybrid car, the Prius of which a million has been produced. Being the world’s largest car producer, it is painfully aware of the adverse impact of automobiles on the environment.

Thus, it must help protect that environment not only by producing the ultimate eco-car or by diversifying energy sources but also preserving forests that mitigate the effect of greenhouses gases emitted by cars.

The Peñablanca effort is no mere lip service. It covers 1,772 hectares of the town’s 102,782-hectare forests—or three times the size of the Makati business district. It could cover up to 2,500 hectares after three years.

Peñablanca’s is one of the Philippines’ remaining old growth and mossy forest stands. The forests are where the rivers, which supply potable water to Tuguegarao City and irrigation to local farmers, start.

The area is characterized by high biodiversity, and is host to more than 200 caves, pristine river systems and sites of archeological and historical significance. With an endemic flora and fauna that is among the richest in the world, the forest is also among the most threatened by destructive farming and forestry practices such as timber poaching, unregulated wildlife hunting, fuel wood gathering, charcoal-making and slash-and-burn upland farming that people in the area are forced to resort to in order to eat and survive.

The result of such activities has been the slow but sure death of the very environment that has been sustaining the people of Peñablanca and the surrounding region for a long time.

This continues to decimate vast swathes of the Peñablanca forestland, resulting in soil erosion, drying up of riverbeds and farmlands, landslides, mud­slides and flashfloods that wreak havoc on lives and property in lowlands surrounding the Peñablanca forest region.

The project aims to promote forest conservation and demonstrate the compatibility among multiple uses of forests—for biodiversity protection, watershed management and ecosystem services, including the development of alternative sources of income and livelihood, for the benefit of local communities.

Washington-based Conservation International, an environmental non-government organization dedicated to terrestrial and marine biodi­versity conservation, is responsible for the overall management of the reforestation project. CI is making a work plan of the project and implementing it in collaboration with local residents and communities.

The Peñablanca local government provides support in terms of infrastructure and social services.

The DENR Region II approves forest rehabilitation, management and monitoring plans and has adopted the project as part of the Trees for Life—Green Philippines Pro­ject of President Arroyo.

In addition to funding and a vehicle, the Toyota group is providing experts, reforestation expertise and techniques.

The project’s key insight is sustainable reforestation where a proper system will be established to allow residents to maintain and expand forests.

Under the Protected Landscape and Seascape Project, species suitable as sources of fuel wood and charcoal will be planted to give rise to fuel wood forests. Such forests will serve as communal sources of fuel wood and charcoal for household use by groups of families.

While putting a stop to fuel wood gathering and charcoal making, the project envisions to re-vegetate open degraded areas through a combination of reforestation, enrichment planting and assisted natural regeneration techniques that promote habitat restoration and rehabilitation through the use of an appropriate mix of indigenous species.

Another objective is agro-forestry where mango and cacao orchards and cash crop farms shall be established on grass­lands and brush lands in the vicinity of the reforestation site. These will serve as alternative sources of food and income to farmers, weaning them further away from destructive practices arising from their dependence on the Peñablanca forest for food and economic survival.

Another objective is the active participation of nearby communities for long-term forest maintenance and protection of the target site through conservation awareness building and skills oriented trainings for livelihood development.

Residents of Barangays Mang­ga, Sisim, Bugatay, and Cabasan are being trained and mobilized in nursery establishment, plantation development, maintenance care, including patrolling the project site to prevent future destructive activities.

The project will be monitored and evaluated for effectiveness and improvement of forest planting and growing techniques and for effects of the reforestation on biodiversity, the hydrological environments and on the overall quality of life of residents. In addition, a third-party certification will be sought on the carbon dioxide absorption, biodiversity and social benefits of the project.