Rotary to plant mangroves

CEBU - The Rotary Club of Cebu will embark on a mangrove planting project to address the concerns on coastal and marine life conservation in line with the Cebu Coastal Conservation Month this September.

One million mangroves will be planted in Cebu to highlight the importance of mangroves in the propagation of fishes and other marine creatures.

The effort is called the “One Million Mangroves Project” with the objective of reforesting identified degraded mangrove areas in Cebu.

The project is also aimed at involving public support in protecting the mangroves and provides logistical support to rehabilitate mangrove areas.

Rotary Club of Cebu President Teodoro Gonzales said the bottom line of the project is developing a collaborative spirit among local government units, non-government organizations and private sectors to protect Cebu’s coastal environment.

The Rotary is eyeing nursery establishment as one of the strategies to restore the mangrove forests in target areas.

The strategy will need plantation and management which can be best done with a community-based forest management agreement.

Another strategy is also to create an alternative livelihood which presumably would create a shared interest in making the mangroves survive.

Cebu is one of the most degraded areas in the country, thus it is considered a conservation priority in terms of both the numbers of endemic species and degrees of threat as discussed during the joint meeting of Rotarians in Marriott Hotel recently.

Various efforts have been done by the government and other concerned groups but the threat of coastal destruction remains until now.

The situation has challenged clubs and Cebu Rotarians in partnership with the Coastal Conservation Education Foundation Inc. and government agencies to invest on a monumental effort to save the remaining mangrove forests before it collapse.

The first joint meeting and dinner forum on the role of civil society in Protecting the Philippine Coastal Ecosystem held just recently was for the purpose of creating awareness among Rotarians on the current situation of the marine ecosystem today.

Gonzales said it was also to challenge them on thinking how they can help in the drive to save the seas and marine creatures.

The meeting was attended by the president’s daughter Evangeline Lourdes “Luli” Arroyo whose advocacy is to saving marine life carried in the Coral Triangle Initiative, a move for the protection of marine creatures that reside within the Coral Triangle of the World. 

The World Community Service based in Japan has donated 1 million yen for the one million mangroves project. — Jessica Ann Pareja/BRP (THE FREEMAN)