A Poem Lovely as a Tree

AFTER winning the war on polio, the Rotary Club of Manila (RCM) is eyeing to win the battle against deforestation. And, RCM plans to do this by pushing for legislative measures to raise awareness and mandate young Filipinos to plant trees in order to “re-green” the country, which has lost as many as 3.7 billion trees.

August 11, 2019

“We will be moving toward re-greening the country. And the initial strategy is the creation of laws and creation of awareness and consciousness [among Filipinos],” RCM President Joaquin “Jack” Rodriguez told the BusinessMirror in a recent interview. “The widespread tree planting will come out automatically when the correct laws are in place,” Rodriguez added.

Rodriguez explained that they are pushing for four legislative measures related to re-greening the country in the current 18th Congress. One is providing a P100 incentive for every tree that a Filipino will plant anywhere in the Philippines. This measure, Rodriguez pointed out, would entice Filipinos, especially the so-called tambay (idle folk), to earn extra money.

Another measure is the mandatory teaching of ecology and environment in the fifth grade. The third measure is requiring every single barangay nationwide to dedicate at least 10 square meters of land to become a seedling bank.

The last one is to require students to plant a number of trees prior to getting their diplomas. The last measure would require a graduating elementary student to plant five trees, a high-school graduate candidate to plant 10 trees, and a graduating college student to plant at least 20 trees. Rodriguez said he presented these measures to Senate President Vicento C. Sotto III in the 17th Congress and is confident that these would get the approval of the current Congress.

“If there are 4 million graduates a year and they plant at least 20 trees, then that would be 80 million trees in a year. After 10 years that would be 800 million,” he said. “We lack about 3.7 billion trees. We cannot do it in one year or 10 years but we have to start somewhere,” he added.

Value of a tree

Rodriguez said the value of one tree goes beyond the value of its fruit. Take for example a mango tree, with its fruit selling at P30 per piece, he added. Citing expert estimates, he outlined the quantifiable socioeconomic benefits from planting a mango tree: P3 million worth of fruits in a 50-year lifespan; P23,800 worth of captured carbon dioxide annually and P28,200 worth of oxygen produced every year.

“That same tree would also produce P900 worth of fertilizer above ground from dropping leaves. And its roots system would hold 700,000 gallons of water,” he said. “And I if I am going to a build a system that would hold the same amount of water for me, it would cost me around P2 million to P3 million,” he added.

A mango tree has more economic benefits which are unquantifiable such as the fertilizer it produces underground, Rodriguez said. “We always have two choices when we eat a mango: either we throw the seed away or plant it,” he added. “I will have all those benefits in five years’ time after planting one seed.” Rodriguez said he presented the same breakdown of benefits from a single tree to Sotto, who was left in a state of awe afterward.

Programs

Through RCM’s The Rotary Economic and Ecological Stratagem (TREES), Rotarians are planting trees and advocating the activity not only nationwide but also globally. TREES is Rodriguez’s brainchild program. Aside from TREES, the RCM is also kick-starting this August its forest park project (FPP) that seeks to build a forest park in every town nationwide. The project will be launched in General Tinio, Nueva Ecija, some time this month.