MWSS reforestation program covers 9.5M hectares–report

MORE than four million seedlings of native and fruit-bearing trees were planted in critical watersheds covering a total of 9,509 hectares since 2017, the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) reported.

Citing a 2020 report for the project dubbed “Annual Million Trees Challenge” (AMTC), the MWSS said a total of 4,021,626 trees were planted between 2017 and 2020 in Ipo-angat, La Mesa, Laguna de Bay, Kaliwa-umiray, Upper Marikina watershed and Manila Bay.

The AMTC is in support of the National Greening Program (NGP) and is aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGS), the MWSS said.

A government priority program that provided for the planting of some 1.5 billion trees in about 1.5 billion hectares for a period of six years from 2011 to 2016, the NGP was further enhanced by virtue of Executive Order 193 signed on November 12, 2015. The EO targets the rehabilitation of the remaining unproductive, denuded and degraded forestland estimated at 7.1 million hectares from 2016 to 2028.

Now known as the Expanded NGP, the program “harmonized” greening efforts of the private sector and civil society.

In the Ipo-angat watershed alone, where more than 96 percent of raw water supply for Metro Manila and the Greater Manila Area come from, a total of 2,265,483 trees were planted, surpassing the combined number of seedlings planted in La Mesa (777,505), Laguna de Bay (222,093), Kaliwa-umiray (60,473) Upper Marikina (552,165) and Manila Bay (143,904).

The report stated that AMTC targets were surpassed for three consecutive years since its launch in February 2017.

In 2017, the number of seedlings planted totaled 1,337,800. This was followed by 1,027,467 in 2018 and 1,022,917 in 2019. The number declined in 2020 because of the quarantine measures, which prompted several program partners to postpone tree-planting activities. Only 633,442 trees were planted for the year.

Through the AMTC, a total of 9,509.375 hectares from 2017 to 2020 were reforested.

At the Ipo-angat watershed, reforested area was 5,035.19 hectares; La Mesa, 1,723.39; Laguna de Bay, 347.83; Kaliwa–umiray, 150.84; Upper Marikina, 1,928.99; and Manila Bay, 323.135.

A 5-year watershed rehabilitation program, AMTC is spearheaded by the Mwss–corporate Office in partnership with various organizations that include national government agencies, local government units, civil society groups and the private sector. It aims to rehabilitate the seven critical watersheds (La Mesa, Ipo, Angat, Umiray, Laguna Lake, Upper Marikina and Kaliwa) supplying water to Metro Manila and parts of Rizal, Cavite and Bulacan.

Formally launched on February 18, 2017, the MWSS and its partners agreed on maintaining the health of the beneficiary watersheds by planting and nurturing at least one million trees annually.

The MWSS said it saw the need to reforest these watersheds that have been denuded because of illegal activities such as timber poaching, kaingin and land conversion. Wanton destruction of forest areas has adversely affected water quality in the watersheds.