Seed collection, propagation urged

Since most native trees grow from seeds, a non-government organization called on the public to collect seeds and propagate them to contribute to the creation of native tree forests.

Rowena Bandola-Alensonorin, executive director of the Integrated Development unit of the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. (RAFI), pointed out the urgent need to replace trees cut down for construction purposes after some parts of the country experienced flashfloods and landslides.

“The primary importance of trees in the ecosystem is to reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and prevent soil erosion. For many people, trees are useful in building houses, furniture, tools and for firewood; hence, these demands have significantly reduced the number of trees in the forests,” she said.

One way to address this is to collect and propagate seeds, which are considered “the next generation of forests.”

Alensonorin said it is important for the people to know not only the names of the native trees but also how to collect the seeds and germinate them.

“The scarcity of this knowledge might have led to the proliferation of exotic tree species, such as mahogany, gmelina and ipil-ipil that are now growing in our forests. If this will continue, we will not only lose these trees, but also our highly valued trees such as narra, lauan and mangkono that are known here and abroad for their toughness. Our forests should be mainly composed of indigenous trees to provide food and habitat to our native animals,” she said.

Producing quality trees starts from the quality of seeds germinated. These seeds must only come from healthy mother trees or those trees that bear fruits and produce seeds. Germinated seeds should be nurtured in a well-managed tree nursery that provides a suitable area for these seeds to grow into plantable seedlings for use in reforestation initiatives.

The RAFI Native Trees Nursery collects seeds and wildlings (seeds that germinated underneath or near the mother tree) all over the Visayas. The nursery is also willing to receive seeds and seedlings from donors. The nursery in barangay Busay, Cebu City, has an existing 150,000 seedlings of 212 native tree species.

The RAFI Native Trees Nursery is a mechanism of the Greenin Philippines program of RAFI to create forests composed of native trees.