MANILA, Philippines - Living out its passion for a better world, the Aboitiz Group actively supports the universal campaign to plant at least one billion trees every year, worldwide.
Through its APARK (Aboitiz Passion for Reforest and Agroforest to Keep) initiative, the Aboitiz Group companies hold simultaneous tree planting and other sustainability-related activities yearly as a biodiversity enhancement program that seeks to plant three million trees by 2015.
These companies contribute financial and human resources to nurture APARK sites all over the Philippines.
The trees planted under the APARK program are then entered as the Aboitiz Group’s pledge to the United Nations Environment Program’s (UNEP) Plant for the Planet: Billion Trees Campaign, which espouses the global movement to sustainability by seeking to plant at least one billion trees annually.
Under the program, private and public entities are encouraged to enter their pledges as regards the number of trees they will be planting.
As of December 2011, UNEP has recorded a total of 12.6 billion trees already planted in 193 countries, with 835,000 trees coming from the Aboitiz Group alone under APARK, which was launched in 2011.
“We do not only plant trees for the sake of planting. We plant indigenous trees that support and complement local flora and fauna and support a healthier ecosystem… Remember that every seedling we plant is a gift to our planet and to our future generations. We create a better world with every tree that we plant,” said Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. president and CEO Erramon Aboitiz.