More than 60,000 tree seedlings were planted across the country on Friday, June 25, during a simultaneous tree-planting activity organized by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), together with the Society of Filipino Foresters Inc. (SFFI), and the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) in celebration of the Philippine Arbor Day.

The main program was held at the 2,695-hectare La Mesa Watershed where some 1,000 seedlings were planted, consisting mostly of indigenous tree species.

Tree-planting activities were held simultaneously in various planting sites identified by the DENR’s 17 regional offices and participated in by SFFI’s chapters and PRC-accredited professional organizations nationwide.

DENR Secretary Roy A. Cimatu lauded the undertaking as he described the SFFI-PRC’s partnering with DENR in the greening program as “a great leap forward to further enrich the world-class status of the Filipino professional as an advocate of climate change adaptation and resiliency.”

Cimatu noted that the SFFI-PRC initiative “clearly raises the Filipino professional’s standards of excellence and quality of service with PRC’s push to promote the principles of sustainability as an advocacy among the Filipino professionals.”

“As advocates of green sustainability, our Filipino professionals will play a crucial role in environmental work in a post-pandemic world as climate change will still be upon us long after COVID-19 will have been globally contained,” Cimatu said.

DENR forester and SFFI National Capital Region president Joey Austria led the participants from the DENR.

SFFI national president and forester Tommy Valdez explained its Carbon-Neutral Program (CNP), which seeks to mobilize Filipinos in planting and growing at least 100 trees each to offset carbon footprints and make each “carbon neutral.”

CNP anchors on the studies conducted by the DENR’s Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau (ERDB) and the World Bank.

The ERDB study pointed out that trees can sequester five to 15 kilograms of carbon annually.

Meanwhile, a World Bank study noted that each Filipino is responsible for the emission of 1.2 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually.

“Requiring Filipinos to plant 100 trees each can render the whole country carbon neutral consistent with ERDB and WB studies,” Valdez said.

The monitoring and validation of the planting and growth of trees enrolled in the CNP are being conducted by the DENR’s regional offices and SFFI’s provincial chapters in collaboration with the PRC.

PRC and the participating organizations also expressed their support to SFFI’s Carbon-Neutral Program (CNP), which seeks to mobilize Filipinos in planting and growing at least 100 trees each to offset carbon footprints and make each “carbon neutral.” #