TACLOBAN CITY- Planting trees will help increase the public awareness on the importance of trees in protecting our environment. Thus said City Mayor Cristina Gonzales Romualdez as she led a tree planting activity in Barangay Tagpuro, a village located in the northern part of the city where a community-based tree planting program was piloted on Tuesday (August 9). “We don’t just want to plant trees. We also want to increase local awareness why the forests matter so much to us and to the local community,” Romualdez said. “We’re trying to enable local people to carry out similar projects by themselves. This will allow our efforts to have greater impact and make them ultimately sustainable in the long term,” she added.
According to the mayor, similar undertaking will be carried out in other barangays in the city which witnessed what scientists and environmentalists all over the world claimed a climate change-induced typhoon. On November 8, 2013, Tacloban was devastated when it was hit by supertyphoon “Yolanda” considered the world’s strongest typhoon to hit inland that resulted to the deaths of more than 2,200 people and destruction of properties of almost P10 billion. “We are promoting tree planting activities in and near the city and it will be a good opportunity for raising people’s awareness on its importance to our environment,” Mayor Romualdez said.
“We will carry out a reforestation program to try and restore degraded areas of the local forests. These will eventually be repopulated with not just trees but also local fauna. We will be working with the local village councils to do this, to include children from the local school,” the mayor added. Around 500 trees of different varieties like mahogany, talisay, bituon and tuog were planted by those who joined the tree planting activity who included other city officials, City Hall workers and those coming from non-government organizations. (JAZMIN BONIFACIO)
