300 join GREENIN run

CEBU, Philippines - At least 300 individuals from different sectors participated in yesterday morning's "Run 2 Nurture 4 GREENIN Philippines" in barangay Jaclupan, Talisay City.

The event, which was a sequel to Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc.'s 2 Plant 4 GREENIN Philippines held last June 25, was organized to revisit the sites where native tree species were earlier planted.

Rowena Bandola-Alensonorin, executive director of RAFI's integrated development, said the second leg of the project is to erase the public's perception that tree planting is just merely tree planting.

"We wanted to correct the public and assure them that the seedlings we planted will become a forest," she said.

Bandola-Alensonorin explained that every three months in two years, they will visit this site in Jaclupan to check if all 12,500 seedlings planted last June survived.

Yesterday, there were some casualties, but she said that was just about 10 percent of the total seedlings planted and that was immediately replaced.

The participants ran from the entrance of Vista Grande in barangay Bulacao to the five-hectare reforestation site. There, the group did some weeding, fertilizing, and replanting.

Haidee Emmie K. Palapar, RAFI's communications officer, said they had to limit the number of participants "to prevent the newly-planted native tree seedlings from being trampled on."

Bandola-Alensonorin said they are thankful that the city government of Talisay is "supportive" of the project that it provided two job-order employees to watch it.

The activity is part of the post planting mechanisms under RAFI's Generation, REdemption, and Expansion of Natural resources Initiatives in the Philippines or the GREENIN Philippines Program, a forest-based carbon sequestration approach to help address the impact of environmental degradation and climate change. (FREEMAN)