RC, Students Held Tree Planting Activity

THE Rotaract Club (RC) of Bacolod North is a growing family of passionate volunteers and leaders willing to serve communities. Through the years, their club has made significant impact to the community along with their service partners with their projects in relation to different service avenues aligned with Rotary International. To mark the occasion, more than 210 Volunteers from different sectors joined in this endeavor which includes the different Rotaract and Interact Clubs of the Negros Area, Philippine National Police, the 303rd Infantry “Brown Eagle” Brigade, Tambal of USLS College of Medicine, Luisa Medel NHS Boy Scouts, Negros Occidental High School grade 10 and grade 12 students , student leaders from different schools and their mother club – the Rotary Club of Bacolod North, conducted a mangrove planting at the coastlines of Barangay Punta Taytay on October 1. Aiming to promote a movement towards a deeper commitment to environmental protection they are having a Mangrove Planting and Coastal Clean-up entitled “Viridi Mundi 5.0 ” This initiative has a goal of promoting environmental conservation and bringing awareness about the earth’s status due to climate change and global warming. It also aims to start, even in small steps, the protection of the environment, which will have a big impact in the years to come. With 1300 young and growing mangrove (Bongalon species) stalks donated by PW Bacolod and the Bacolod City Water District are ready for planting, we were given a short lecture by Acting General Manager Engr. Michael M. Soliva on how to properly embed the water-resistant plant on the sand. The mangrove ecosystems which serve as a bridge linking terrestrial and marine ecosystems are gaining salience amongst forestry scientists because of their multi-functionality. For example, the prop-roots and pneumatophores of mangroves that extend into the intertidal and subtidal are home to diverse terrestrial as well as marine fauna and flora (Nagelkerken et al. 2008). Mangroves can also be an indicator of the condition of the upland environment since these ecosystems depend on terrestrial and tidal waters for their nourishment and river-derived deposits from upland erosion as substrate support. Planting Mangroves can reduce shoreline erosion and can protect coastal communities against coastal flooding, high winds and waves and tsunamis. Restoration of mangrove ecosystem at Punta Taytay Bacolod city, provide diverse benefits to local communities are vulnerable to natural and human-induced threats. That is why there is a continuous activities of mangrove planting from different government and non-government organizations volunteers in order to promote a movement towards a deeper commitment to environmet protection.*