DENR to plant trees to counter the effects of mild El Niño

TO counter the effects of the  mild El Niño, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Central Visayas (DENR-7) is preparing seedlings for planting in the third quarter of this year.
DENR-7 information officer Eddie Llamedo said they have already prepared 11.89 million seedlings as of May 8. Of these, 1.98 million seedlings are intended for Cebu, 2.86 million for Bohol, 6.92 million for Negros Oriental and 125,357 for Siquijor.
In compliance with the government’s National Greening Program (NGP), Llamedo said the seedlings to be planted in June or July will replace the trees that were burned and cut illegally.
The NGP aims to plant 1.5 billion trees in 1.5-million hectares of forest lands in the country from 2011 to 2016 to address climate change.
The seedlings include those of narra, molave, mamalis and jackfruit, among others.
Since the inception of NGP in 2011, Llamedo said the DENR-7 was able to plant 24,796 trees in Cebu; 12,894 in Bohol; 26,405 in Negros Oriental;  and 945 in Siquijor, surpassing their target of 62,364 trees in these areas.
The tree-planting activities from 2011 to 2014 covering 65,042 hectares of land had a budget of P1.14 billion.
Llamedo said the DENR-7 ranks second among the DENR regional offices nationwide for planting trees with 94 percent survival rate.