Think back of our colonial past when houses were made of adobe blocks and woods. The grandeur and intricate design is called Antillean style of architecture, a famous Spanish cultural legacy next to Christianity.
This kind of infrastructure could withstand natural calamities in the Philippines like typhoons and earthquakes. Further, did you know that the University of Sto. Tomas is the first earthquake-resilient building in the Philippines and Asia and has continued to withstand natural and man-made calamities.
But today technology has given us air-conditioning units, electric fans to cope with the unpredictability of weather patterns. Rapid urbanization has also caused the rapid degradation of our environment to give way to rising structures and mass housing.
According to the Department of Natural Resources (DENR), an alarming 52,000 trees have been felled in the Philippines, leaving only 24% of the country’s land mass pristine. The culprits: kaingin farming (slash-and-burn) and land conversion.
DENR further mentioned:
“Earth has roughly three trillion trees, forming the last remaining forests that harbor 80% of all known terrestrial plant and animal species. Forests not only mitigate climate change by absorbing and storing greenhouse gases while releasing life-giving oxygen, but also ensure the availability of fresh water- a resource that is becoming scarcer each dry season.”
It is important to emphasize that the call to action must involve all stakeholders: the public, the government and private sector which has the obvious capacity to dramatically make a difference.
Starting the initiative is Mynt-Ayala Digital Payment System with its GForest online application. The company will plant a tree on behalf of users in its partner ecoparks. Users will grow trees by collecting green energies that will be gathered through digital payment transactions. This project is in partnership with Ramon Aboitiz Foundation, Inc, The Biodiversity Finance Initiative, WWF-Philippines, Century Pacific Food, Inc, Friends of Hope, Inc, and Ayala Land, Inc.
There are almost 13 million green users planting trees and who have remained committed to the cause: 2.3 million trees in a year and still counting.
Many companies nowadays incorporate environmental initiatives in their Corporate Social Responsivity (CSR) programs and promote activism through digital platforms.
The United Nations (UN) has started to get forest instrument to work in recognizing ‘sustainable forest management’ through strengthening political commitment, enhancing forest contribution and providing national and international cooperation towards sustainable management and sustainable development goals.
This UN initiative seeks to achieve these objectives. Member states shall work toward forest protection, restoration, afforestation and reforestation, and prevent forest degradation; improve forest-based economic, social and environmental benefits,’ and increase coverage of forest-protected areas and develop assistance for sustainable forest management.