Human beings exploit natural resources in ways that force Mother Earth to constantly cope up with contamination of the air, land, and water. The Industrial Revolution, population burst, pollution, and indiscriminate human activity have taken a toll on the Earth. In these dire circumstances, afforestation is the need of the hour.
Afforestation is the process of planting trees, or sowing seeds, in a barren land devoid of any trees. Many commercial needs of human beings such as wood products are fulfilled by planting trees. Presently, the entire world is the victim of climate change, the major part of which is due to human activity.
The Philippines is one of the countries that is severely deforested. In just the 20th century, the total forest cover in the country dropped from a healthy 70% to a mere 20%.
Due to the prevailing grim conditions, a landmark new law has been passed by the Philippines that requires all high school and college students to plant at least 10 trees before graduating. The Country’s House of Representatives passed the bill, while the approval is awaited from the Senate – the upper parliamentary chamber. The law would enable the plantation of 175 million new trees each year.
Gary Alejano, a representative of The Philippines’ Magdalo Party, informed that over 12 million students graduate from elementary school, approximately 5 million students from high school, and almost 500,000 graduate from college annually. If the new Filipino law is implemented effectively, at least 175 million trees would be planted.
The Philippines government Higher Education Department would administer the bill to ensure tree plantation by students in order to graduate.
The chosen plant species should be appropriate for each location, topography, and climate of the area. The press release states that the trees will be planted in “forest lands, mangrove and protected areas, ancestral domains, civil and military reservations, urban areas under the greening plan of the local government units, inactive and abandoned mine sites, and other suitable lands.”
Kudos to the Philippines Government for this brilliant move.
Let us know what do you think of this new initiative. How do you plan to combat climate change?
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