In celebration of the 2024 Environment Month and Philippine Arbor Day, the Provincial Government of Camarines Sur spearheaded a tree growing activitity at the Bicol Natural Park (BNP) on June 25, 2024.
Led by Governor Luigi Villafuerte and Congressman Hori Horibata, 8,000 community members, volunteers, and the youth, as well as representatives from different government offices and agencies simultaneously planted 12,000 seedlings of native trees at the open and deforested areas of the BNP in Barangay Sooc, Lupi. A total of 20 hectares of land at the BNP were planted with native trees, like banaba, fish-tail, dao, anilao, apitong, white lawaan, and mali-mali.
Harvey Dimaranan, Protected Area Superintendent of the BNP, said that it is of utmost importance to save and rehabilitate the BNP as it is one of the rarest forest ecosystems and is also the headwater of the Bicol River Basin. Currently, the natural park has multiple areas with forest fragmentation due to illegal logging, kaingin, and conversion of forest land into agricultural land.
“Our dream for the BNP is to rehabilitate its degraded parts and to partner with our local community, especially the youth, in continuing to take care of this area,” shared Dimaranan. He furthered, “We aim to revive the denuded forest cover of the BNP. We know it’s not yet too late to do this.”
Noviden Alforte, barangay captain of Barangay Colacling in Lupi, expressed his appreciation of the tree growing activity. “The youth of our barangay will surely benefit from this program in the future.” Ildefonso Leron Jr., barangay captain of Barangay Bulawan Jr. in Lupi, also chimed in, “Without the BNP, calamities can easily destroy our community, so to our youth, I hope we work together in preserving our forests. Let’s plant more trees and take care of them.”
The tree growing activity is the start of the rehabilitation efforts of the Provincial Government, a member of the Protected Area Management Board (PAMB), to rehabilitate 500 hectares of the deforested areas of the BNP through the El Verde Program rehabilitation project. This effort also aims to contribute to the reversion of the agricultural areas of the BNP into forest areas while providing sustainable livelihood opportunities to the residents of the communities in and around the BNP.
Among the stakeholders who helped plant trees during the event were representatives from Provincial Government of Camarines Sur, Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office - Camarines Sur and Camarines Norte, Protected Area Office - Bicol Natural Park, PAMB members of Camarines Sur and Camarines Norte, Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council of Camarines Sur, El Verde Youth for Climate Action - Libmanan, Sipocot, and Lupi Chapters, Philippine National Police - Provincial Police Office, and the 11 barangays covered by the BNP in Camarines Sur.
