WILD SEEDLINGS. A learner from Barangay Panipiason in Madalag, Aklan gathers wild seedlings in exchange for school supplies in July this year. The Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office engages learners of schools within the Protected Area – Aklan River Watershed Forest Reserve in environmental protection and conservation campaign. (Photo courtesy of PENRO-Aklan)
ILOILO CITY – The Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO) of Aklan engages learners in schools within protected area Aklan River Watershed Forest Reserve in environmental protection and conservation campaign through Project CoCo (Collect Seedlings to Connect to Nature).
“Project CoCo was conceptualized to promote an innovative learning experience, environmental awareness and at the same time, give educational incentives for the youth as the target participants. We are choosing schools to become an entry point of Project CoCo,” Aklan PENR Officer Merlene Aborka said in an interview on Friday.
With permission from schools, they hold environmental lectures for learners to appreciate the ecosystem in their communities and the whole watershed and how to reduce the mortality rate with their collected seedlings that are brought to the DENR nursery in Jawili town.
“They are introduced to different kinds of native and indigenous plants or species in their community so they would be able to identify these forest trees in the watershed areas that we have to protect. We have to propagate and bring them back again to our forests for the rehabilitation or restoration of forest covers,” she said.
Initially, they will be part of the forest cover restoration in the watershed area by helping the DENR collect wild seedlings within their barangays, Aborka added.
The seedlings grow in clusters in the wild, so it would be best to regulate their spacing and have a better turnout of plantation by collecting and propagating them in the nursery for their roots to become sturdy, she explained.
Now on its second year, the participating schools are the Agtughangin Integrated School and Mananggad Primary School, both in Barangay Panipiason in Madalag town.
The program collected 62,121 seedlings and seeds comprising 40 various species of indigenous and fruit trees against the 20,000 target when it was conducted sometime in July.
During the first year of its implementation, PENRO achieved its target of 20,000 seedlings.
In exchange, DENR provided learners with school supplies.
The collected seedlings were brought to the modernized and mechanized nursery in Jawili town for further propagation.
The Jawili nursery provides seedlings to other DENR offices in Western Visayas.
They target to plant them back into the watershed in November and December when there is still rain and the root system of the seedlings is stable.
Youth Desk Office Forester II Joanne Inguine was tasked to ensure the establishment of a tree plantation in barangays where the seedlings were collected, other than giving them to the general public and provinces in the region.
While the collection activity was done in the second or third quarter of the year, it is sustained year-round through the “Dalaw- Turo” (visit-teaching) activity in schools.
Aborka added that they hope to see behavioral change and do away with the destructive slash and burn (kaingin) practice in the watershed and protected areas.
“We inculcate to the young minds that they are not just simply plants but are indigenous species that should not be lost in the protected area to answer the problem of climate change, the impact of climate change. The government also would like to ensure that indigenous species should remain as many in number in our protected areas in the forest ecosystem,” she said.
Aborka hopes other provinces in Western Visayas would appreciate the initiative for replication. (PNA)
