By Franklin P. Gumapon
PAGADIAN CITY – To beat India’s record as having planted 1,945,535 trees for an hour in 408 locations with 340,200 participants, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)-9 is joining other regions in Mindanao to plant 4.6 million trees in 9,200 hectares across the island on Sept. 26, 2014 at 8:30 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.
Dubbed “TreeVolution: Greening MindaNow,” the activity aims to achieve the 2014 target of the National Greening Program (NGP) for Mindanao by breaking India’s record of having planted the most number of treesin different locations simultaneously.
NGP is targeting 690,815 hectares to be planted with trees in Mindanao by 2016.
“For Zamboanga Peninsula, DENR-9 aims to cover 1,000 hectares to be planted with 700,000 seedlings in various NGP sites,” Regional Director Arleigh Adorable said.
Adorable also disclosed that some 35,000 participants/volunteers would be mobilized during the said activity involving 700 validators and independent witnesses from the academe and religious sector.
More, the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA), Department of Agriculture (DA) and the local government units (LGUs) have also signified to join the activity by planting 167,500 seedlings in 335 hectares, bringing a total of 867,500 seedlings to be planted within the region during the “TreeVolution” activity.
Presently, India holds the title in the Guinness World Records as having the most number of trees planted in various locations simultaneously.
