Plant at least 10 trees to get your diploma!

In 25 years, the Philippines have seen nearly a third of its forests disappear. The equivalent of nearly 3,412,000 hectares of land literally blown up in smoke. This is a frightening observation, but one that the government has been trying to reverse for several years. And the latest initiative to date is so original that it is worth jumping at: the “Graduation Legacy for the Environment”.

Buying your diploma in Nature

Introduced by MP Gary Alejano, this bill requires any student to have planted at least 10 trees to graduate. A kind of prerequisite aimed, according to the government, at promoting environmental protection, biodiversity conservation, but also at slowing climate change and reducing food insecurity and poverty. Voted in mid-May by the House of Representatives, it remains to be validated by the Senate in the coming weeks, before it can come into force.

An initiative that would plant about half a billion trees

According to the bearer of the law, this would represent more than 175 million trees planted each year. Indeed, if we add the 12 million primary school children, the 5 million secondary school children and the 500,000 students in higher education, even with a survival rate of only 10%, more than half a billion trees could be planted over a whole generation. As true carbon sinks essential for CO2 storage, the trees’ importance in the ecosystem is all too often underestimated.

Many government institutions are involved in the project: the Ministries of Education, Agriculture and Environment and Natural Resources, as well as the Department of Land Reform and the National Commission of Indigenous Peoples. All these actors testify to the scope of the mission and the desire to create a strong ecological awareness in the country, eager to inspire its young generations. In addition, these actors will also be responsible for verifying that the student has respected his minimum quota of 10 trees planted, and for supervising the creation of nurseries and the monitoring of the plants.

Respecting the rules of biodiversity

In order not to upset the laws of nature and to make students aware of the need to respect biodiversity, the bill draws up a very specific list of authorized places where trees may be planted (forest areas, protected areas, military reserves, abandoned mining areas, etc.). Not to mention that it will be mandatory to favor local plant species. All this in accordance with the topography of the site and its climatic conditions.

An educational and ecological goal

Although surprising, this ecological and educational initiative is in line with recent reforms promoted by the Philippine government to tighten laws against illegal deforestation, a historical problem the country is trying to address. Because in addition to being an encouraging initiative, it paves the way for a real ecological education, ready to sprout in the youngest Filipino minds and awaken a sense of closeness to Mother Nature.

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High-quality writing is very important to members of the Global Goodness team. But no one’s perfect, so they always use Antidote to correct their texts.

 

Sources : Gouvernement Philippin, The Independent

Cover photo : © Unsplass