Mining firm, green groups bond for new mangroves

YOUNG mangroves planted on the shoreline of the villages of Wakat and Talisay in Barobo, Surigao del Sur province CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

BAROBO, Surigao del Sur—Marine conservationists have found an unlikely ally in a mining firm that embarked on a community-supported mangrove reforestation program to save the critically disturbed ecosystem in a coastal area of this fishing town.

About 90 percent of the 12,500 mangrove propagules planted by residents in a 5-hectare area in the villages of Wakat and Talisay last year have survived, according to Gladess Dianne Buot, forester of Philsaga Mining Corp., based in Rosario town in Agusan del Sur province.

“It will not take long before these will develop into a mangrove forest,” Buot said.

Philsaga, a gold-mining subsidiary of Australian firm Medusa Mining Ltd., led the planting activity through its Adopt-A-Mangrove Plantation project. The program intends to bring back biodiversity to endangered coastal areas in Barobo, a third-class municipality (annual income: P35 million-P45 million) with a population of over 43,000 as of 2010.

Studies show that mangrove forests stabilize the coastline, reducing erosion from storm surges, currents, waves and tides. The intricate root system of mangroves also makes these forests attractive to fish and other organisms seeking food and shelter from predators.

Buot said the indiscriminate cutting of mangroves for firewood, charcoal production, and parking spaces for fishing boats had ravaged the coastal areas in Wakat and Talisay.

She said the high rate of survival of mangroves in the project site was achieved as a result of the sincere efforts among stakeholders in fully maintaining the areas with replanting and cleaning activities.

Tree cutting has been banned in the areas, while Philsaga personnel have been visiting the site monthly to ensure the mangroves are properly taken care of.

More than 500 students, top executives and workers of Philsaga, and even policemen and Army soldiers joined the mangrove tree-planting event in March last year.

Philsaga partnered with the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office, the municipal government, Wakat Community-Based Resource Management Project Organization, and Talisay Small Fishermen Organization for the three-year project.

Raul Villanueva, Philsaga president, said the company would continue to support more mangrove reforestation projects to rehabilitate coastal areas in the Caraga region, as well as massive tree-planting activities in the mainland areas.

So far, the company has planted and maintained 338,097 forest trees of various species, 198,813 rubber trees, and 75,287 fruit-bearing trees in 1,085.82 hectares of land in Rosario and its neighboring towns in Agusan del Sur.