Green walls, fences rise to slow down climate change

TAGUM City—The fences and walls of some structures here will soon have crawling plants, thanks to participants of last month’s run-for-a-cause.

The greening of walls, as it was called, was part of the local government’s campaign in aid of the fight against global warming and was staged in coordination with the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) here.

Mayor Rey Uy said that during the fun run on September 18, some 1,000 runners joined hands in planting crawling plants.

Among those who participated was 12-year-old Judy Suaybaguio, who joined other runners in planting creeping grass against a wall along Seminary Drive. Her mother, Maya, helped her cover the newly planted grass with dirt.

“I want to help our place become green and help Earth become cooler. As a student, this is my contribution to my generation,” said Suaybaguio, a Grade 5 student of Magugpo Pilot Elementary School here.

She pledged to check on her “wall garden” soon.

“Aside from promoting good health, the KBP fun run also sought to help restore the environment as a portion of its proceeds would be used for tree-growing, not just tree-planting,” Ruel Dagsangan, events coordinator, said.

Uy said the city government has inked a memorandum of agreement with several business establishments for the continuing wall-greening campaign.

Uy said once the wall-crawling plants grew into thick foliage, the green wall covers would serve as natural cooler, absorbing the sun’s heat and cooling the air.

“In the present setup, it’s very humid especially in very hot days as concrete walls and pavements tend to absorb and release heat,” Uy said.

He said the concept was born out of “our green mind,” drawing laughter from reporters, before he turned serious.

“This is our (contribution) in the fight against global warming. We want this generation to be part of the solution. At the end of the day, we can proudly proclaim we took part in protecting and maintaining the environment,” Uy said. “We plant, manage and protect.”

Aside from the wall-greening project, Uy said the city government started scouting for abandoned fishponds in the coastal villages of Bincungan, Liboganon and Madaum and have these areas planted with mangroves.

Negotiations are going on between city government representatives and owners of a 38-hectare fishpond spanning the three villages planned to be spruced up with mangroves, he said.

In Compostela Valley province, the provincial government also launched a greening program dubbed “20Million15 Trees.”

Board Member Ruwel Peter Gonzaga said under the program, the provincial government aims to plant—through volunteers—20,000,015 trees planted by 2015.

“Among the areas targeted for planting were forest lands, mangrove areas, protected areas, ancestral domains, civil and military reservations, riverbanks, stream banks, urban areas identified by the LGUs such as parks, open spaces, highways, roadsides, church, schools and office compounds, inactive and abandoned mine sites, and other suitable public and private lands,” Gonzaga said.—Frinston Lim, Inquirer Mindanao