by Joseph Jubelag, Manila Bulletin
ALABEL, Sarangani – The Sarangani provincial government launched on Wednesday, Oct. 5, a reforestation program that seeks to plant and grow some one million trees across the province in the next three years.
Provincial officials led by Gov. Ruel Pacquiao attended the kick-off ceremony of the Sarangani One Million Trees project at the watershed areas of Barangay Bacagay here.
Hundreds of local officials, national government employees, and non-government organizations planted some 1,000 seedlings of iron bamboo and fruit trees, including coffee, langka, durian, rambutan, and lanzones.
Pacquiao urged residents and community stakeholders to take part in the environmental project.
“It could be a long way to go, but with the support of the community stakeholders, we can possibly save the depleting watershed of the province,” he said.
Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Officer Rolando Tuballes said the provincial government launched the environmental protection program amid a study conducted by the USAID-Safe Water Project that showed that some 20,000 hectares of the province’s forest covers have been degraded from 2015 to 2020.
He said the degradation had caused soil erosion and siltation triggered by perennial flooding.
“The massive tree-planting and tree-growing project for the next three years will intensify the reforestation of the denuded watershed areas which aimed to improve the quantity and quality of the province’s water supply,” Tuballes said.
