Replanting the hills

Buying Trees

Planting Trees


Tree Conference

Building Hillsides

There are many projects across Mindanao funded by NGOs and the local government now which involved replanting on a massive scale. Mindanao is largely agricultural and much of the land was deforested in order to make place for farms, this obviously has a negative effect in terms of soil erosion etc. NGOs and local governments are trying to encourage locals to replant trees and using incentives for this, showing them the improvement in soil, how the trees can also be used as an income and for economic benefit. Trees are chosen carefully according to the benefit to the locals, the gradient of the land on which they will be planted and the suitability to the area in which they will be planted. I was privileged to be a witness to the process of encouraging locals, buying trees, a local tree conference and the planting too! I also got to see how rubber is extracted... lucky me!