Reforestation Efforts of Napocor

Our whole family went to Caliraya,Laguna today to plant trees in denuded portions of the Napocor's (National Power Corp of the Philippines) Watershed. Caliraya is a man-made lake, home to about 600MW of hydro-electric power. A couple of decades ago, Napocor started selling lands in the lake area which have become the location of popular resorts in this locale. It was a fresh look at Caliraya, coming here not to enjoy ourselves but to do our part in fulfilling the Edenic mandate. With about 600 volunteers, we were able to plant 7000 trees in about 2 hours. WOW!!! Can't wait to see happens when the other planting sessions in October and Novemer are done.

Napocor, has been very active in conserving watersheds in their areas because of their direct relationship to hydro power output. In Angat dam (Norzagaray, Bulacan), we saw Napocor's well maintained secondary growth forest, having an 84% cover and sightings of the Philippine Eagle. This is a stark and ironic contrast to the neighboring Ipo dam managed by the DENR (Dept of Natural Resources) and the MWSS (Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System). The Angat watershed was the source of all the seedlings we used in today's session. A couple of months back, our whole family helped out in preparing seedlings by bagging saplings in Angat. There was some fulfilment to see our seedlings finally put to the ground.

It is very important that each one of us realize the importance of the water cycle. Only ~2% of the world's water supply is potable and accessible. The advent of climate change, makes forests vulnerable to fires and heat damage. If the forests die, the ability of watersheds to collect and retain water will be destroyed. This means water will be come more inaccessible, leading to problems such as rice production drops and digestive tract diseases. (If you live in Paranaque or Las Pinas, you may have an idea of what this means.) It is therefore our responsibility to ensure that unnecessary forest damage is avoided.

To end today's blog, I would like to congratulate Noel Umali, Head of Napocor's Watershed Mgmt group, for consistently doing a great job in maintaining Napocor's forests. I would aslo congratulate Liesl Lim and Garrie David, of the Presidential Task Force on Climate Change (PTFCC), for the successful tree planting activity they organized today. Thanks guys!!!

If anyone wants to join the next tree planting activies on October 11 and November 8, send a mail to ptfcc.mail@gmail.com to express your interest.