SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY WRITING FACT SHEET – ENGLISH and Filipino

SEPTEMBER 6, 2024
Directions: Compose a feature story using the information from this article and video to be presented by the speaker.

 More needs to be done to prevent further deforestation within the Philippines. The country, which hosts two-
thirds of the planet’s biodiversity and up to four-fifths of its flora and fauna, is fighting an uphill battle to
preserve its wildlife. The nation is currently losing an estimated 47,000 hectares of rainforest every year and has
lost around 60% of its forest cover in the last 80 years.
 While the Philippines is an agricultural country with a land area of around 30 million hectares, only around
24.1% of its land area remained forested as of 2020.
 The country is affected by an average of 20 major storms a year as it sits within the typhoon belt, an area in the
western Pacific Ocean where nearly one-third of the world’s tropical cyclones form. This, combined with current
deforestation rates, has resulted in soil erosion, landslides, flash floods, food and water insecurity, and an
insecure water supply, and has led to the displacement of indigenous tribes.
 In 2019, the Philippines’ Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) classified 55 mammals, 184
birds, 53 reptiles, 30 amphibians, and 784 invertebrates as threatened species.
 “If the forests in which these species reside are cleared, their only habitat, including their food sources and
environment needed to reproduce, will be destroyed,” Anna Varona, chief operating officer of the Haribon
Foundation for the Conservation of Natural Resources, told Eco-Business. “Consequently, there is a high
probability that these unique species may vanish or become extinct.”
 Much of the country’s forest loss stemmed from indiscriminate logging operations from 1935 to 1991.
Agricultural expansion, mining, urbanization, and forest conversion into resorts, roads, and dams have also
contributed to forest loss over the years, Varona noted.
 Climate-induced extreme weather events, such as Typhoon Haiyan – which not only took more than 6,000 lives
but also decimated 86% of the mangrove forests in eastern Philippines in 2013 – are also exacerbating forest
degradation.
 Meanwhile, the country’s burgeoning population of more than 110 million people has led to an increased
demand for goods and services from forest ecosystems.
 “With a growing population, there is increasing pressure from different clients and customers within the forestry
sector to meet all or most of the domestic needs for wood, fuelwood, major and minor forest products, and
other forest ecosystem-related goods and services,” according to the Philippine Master Plan for Climate
Resilient Forestry Development.
 The plan, formulated in 1990, came after a government ban on log and lumber exports a year prior to striking a
better balance between the development of forest-based industries and the conservation of forest ecosystems.
The policy was updated in 2003 when major programs failed and revamped again in 2013 to factor in the impact
of climate change on forestry.
 In 2011, two major forest management-related policy changes were issued. One was a moratorium on the
cutting and harvesting of trees in natural forests and the establishment of an Anti-Illegal Logging Task Force. The
second was the National Greening Program (NGP), a campaign to plant 1.5 billion trees on 1.5 million hectares
between 2011 and 2016. This was later extended to 2028, with coverage expanded to include 7.1 million
hectares of unproductive, denuded and degraded forests. Around 1.83 billion seedlings have been planted on
2.18 million hectares of land through the NGP as of 2022.
 The interventions have led to modest gains: data from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) show that
the Philippines recorded a 0.5% increase in forest cover between 2010 and 2020. On average, 34,900 hectares of
forest cover were added each year.
 Despite the reported increase in forest cover, Varona cautioned that the planting of exotic trees “does not
promote Philippine biodiversity.”
 “I believe the focus should be on native tree species that support the country’s unique ecosystem. By prioritizing
indigenous trees and considering their ecological significance, reforestation efforts can better preserve and
restore the country’s rich biodiversity while addressing deforestation concerns,” she said.
 Sowing seeds; growing trees
 The need to preserve indigenous trees is driving other reforestation efforts in the Philippines such as BINHI, the
greening project of Energy Development Corporation (EDC), the world’s largest vertically integrated geothermal
power producer in the world. Geothermal power, which is harnessed from heat inside the earth, is considered a
renewable and sustainable source of energy. EDC is owned by First Gen Corporation, also a Philippines-based
independent power producer.
 With 47% of the country’s indigenous trees threatened with extinction, BINHI, a Tagalog term for “seedling,”
was established in 2008 to rescue, preserve and propagate native species.
 The program also conducts tree population surveys to determine their numbers and partners with stakeholders
to protect forests. To date, the project has assessed and updated the conservation status of 1,470 tree species
through the Botanic Garden Conservation International (BGCI) for the Global Tree Assessment, an initiative to
conduct research and compile extinction risk information on all tree species worldwide, of which EDC BINHI is
the sole Philippine partner. Of these, EDC has identified a total of 145 as priority species.
 The survey helps the team to identify which tree species to focus on reforesting and also sheds light on species
that were believed to be disappearing. For example, tree species such as the red lauan (Shorea negrosensis), a
large evergreen tree that had only been found in Negros in the Visayas, and a plant species endemic to the
Philippines locally referred to as Mapilig (Xanthostemon bracteatus), which had only been found in Camarines
Norte in Luzon, were discovered in several other places around the country.
 The team also identified dwindling tree varieties, including one species of tropical hardwood tree known locally
as kaladis narig (Vatica elliptica). “We only found two trees standing in 2016. But through our partnership with
the Provincial Government of Zamboanga Sibugay and the DENR, we found a total of 11 trees, which had already
borne fruit during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Roniño Gibe, EDC’s BINHI program head.
 BINHI also plants trees outside their natural habitat for the purpose of nurturing them into mother trees that
will produce viable seeds in the coming years. It plans to begin in-situ conservation this year, where species are
planted in their natural habitats.
 While it will be several years before the Philippines undoes the damage its forests have sustained, reforestation
efforts are hoping to protect and preserve what is left and find new ways of repopulating barren areas.
 As a result of the BINHI’s initiatives, 10 of the 145 species that were previously on EDC’s priority list have been
removed, while 21 were downgraded from their “critically endangered” classification, according to Gibe.
 MALAWAKANG PAGTATANIM SOLUSYON SA BAHA – DA
 NANINIWALA si Agriculture Secretary William Dar na malawakang pagtatanim sa watersheds ang solusyon
upang mapigilan ang malaganap na pagbaha sa maraming lungsod at bayan sa bansa.
 Ani Dar, ang pagtatanim ng mga puno ay napapanahon at pangmatagalang solusyon laban sa pagbaha, bukod sa
iba pang plano ng pamahalaan.
 “We need engineering interventions here. At the same time, we need to reforest in a big way our watersheds.
Otherwise, we will have a year in, year out, itong problema na ito,” paliwanag ni Dar.
 “I am hoping that as the engineering interventions would start now, like dredging, we should also start
reforesting in a big way all our watersheds,” susog ng kalihim.
 Batay sa datos, 18 watershed sa Luzon, na may magandang tanim ng mga puno, ang kailangan upang mayroong
matibay na sasalo sa mga tubig.
 Kapansin-pansin, nang humagupit ang magkakasunod na bagyo sa bansa, partikular sa Luzon, marami nang lugar
na hindi nakaliligtas mula sa buhos ng ulan at putik mula sa kabundukan.
 Ayon sa apektadong mga residente, halos wala nang puno ang mga kagubatan, dahil sa hindi napahihintong
ilegal na pagtotroso
 Katulad sa Cagayan, marami nang puno ang nawala na sasalo sa agos ng tubig tuwing bumabagyo, dahilan upang
lumubog ang maraming bayan sa nasabing lalawigan nang bumigwas ang Bagyong Ulysses.
 Halos kapiraso na rin lang ang mga puno sa San Mateo at Montalban sa Rizal, dahilan upang regular na
bumubuhos ang napakalakas na tubig na may kasamang putik, mula rito patungo sa lungsod ng Marikina.
 Ayon pa sa impormasyong ipinarating ng mga residente, talamak ang quarrying sa San Mateo at Montalban
ngunit mukhang pinabayaan na ng mga alkalde sa dalawang bayang ito.