Pangasinan falls short of target on tree planting

DAGUPAN CITY—The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Pangasinan needs to plant forest and fruit trees on 900 hectares in the province within this month to fulfill a commitment under the National Greening Program (NGP), a nationwide reforestation effort launched by the government in June.

Ludwina Co, provincial environment and natural resources officer, said the province planted only 300 hectares since the project was launched.

Co said the province was way behind its target of 1,190 ha.

“The program implementation is slow, perhaps because it is undertaken through social mobilization,” she said.

This means that different sectors, not only the DENR, are involved in the project. Personnel of government agencies, members of civic and religious organizations and students are tapped in the tree-planting project.

Co said while the NGP has attracted many participants, only few actually plant or finish planting.

This is especially true among younger students, many in Grades 5 and 6, who easily get tired hiking to the reforestation sites that are usually 3 to 8 kilometers away from the nearest roads.

“The participants have to hike to the reforestation sites for hours and are usually tired when they get there,” Co said.

This happened even as DENR personnel had cleared reforestation areas and prepared holes into which seedlings would be placed. Yolanda Sotelo, Inquirer Northern Luzon