Support GreenEarth’s Agroforest Development Program

Deforestation is a huge problem in the Philippines. According to the Philippine Forestry Statistics of the Forest Management Bureau, our country’s forest cover declined to about 7.17 million hectares or 24% of land area in 2011.

GreenEarth Heritage Foundation Philippines aims to restore forests and provide sustainable livelihood through organic agriculture, education, and community development.

Our foundation has received an endowment of 107 hectares of land, which sadly has been denuded by decades of illegal logging and charcoal making. To restore the forests and help the poor people in the area, we have started an agroforest development program.

For more than 13 years, we are helping former illegal loggers, charcoal makers, and other rural folks, to change their mindset from environmental exploitation to restoration.

They have been willing to embrace our mission and sign an agreement that once given new livelihood opportunities, they will no longer be involved in their illegal and destructive activities.

As part of the program, we assist them in procuring all their agriculture requirements and make sure that their produce is purchased at a higher price than the regular markets. As a result, the farmers have been more motivated and productive.

For sustainability, we are planting forest hardwoods and fruit-bearing trees to serve as future income-generating revenue streams. Fruits can be turned into processed products while seeds can be used for oil extraction.

To continue this program, we need to raise Php 20 million. This fund will be used to fence the property with steel posts and 5 layers of barbed wire (forest fires and illegal intrusion and malicious mischief are real problems in the Philippines), building a diversion dam (in order to tap a flowing water source from the closest river), deep wells, and drip irrigation pipelines. We will also construct rainwater harvesting tanks and procure submersible pumps, and surface booster pumps.

Currently, the farmers only rely on rain for irrigation. The aforementioned infrastructure will be serve to turbocharge the agroforest development.

In light of climate change and global warming, we are reminded of the Old Chinese Proverb--- “the best time to plant trees is 20 years ago, the next best time is NOW.”

By supporting this campaign, you will put an end to continued destruction of the environment in our countryside where dire livelihood opportunities exist. You will help provide a new order, new hope in rural poor communities at the foothills of the longest mountain range of the Philippines, the Sierra Madre on its Northern end.