Province to spearhead ‘Run to Plant’ mangroves in Danao

FIFTEEN thousand mangrove propagules are set to be planted on the shoreline of Barangay Guinsay, Danao City, during the 3.3-kilometer Run to Plant program of the Cebu provincial government on Saturday, September 9.

Romel Kirit of the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (Penro) said they will make sure that mangroves planted will survive to improve the resilience of the coastal community to climate change.

Penro Senior Environment Specialist Rodel Bontuyan said the monitoring of the mangroves planted will be conducted by the local government unit.

“Before, we just planted the trees, without even monitoring their growth. Now, we want to make sure that the plants grow in order to serve its purpose,” said Bontuyan.

Engr. Leonides Martel from the City Environment and Natural Resources Office said they will be sourcing the mangrove propagules from a cooperative in Barangay Guinsay.

He said that a cement company in Danao City also pledged to monitor the growth of the mangroves and to replant those that will not survive.

Meanwhile, Bontuyan also requested other local government units to join the Run to Plant program by planting native tree seedlings.

The Run to Plant activity of Penro started in 2011 and has sown a total of 1,210,751 seedlings.

The Cebu province has pledged to plant three million seedlings for the tree-growing initiative that aims to grow 35 million trees by 2020.

Initial monitoring on the planted seedlings revealed 70 percent survival rate, according to Anthony Dignadice, executive director of the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Incorporated – Integrated Development Unit (RAFI-IDU), which is one of the partners of Cebu province for this campaign.