A Filipino law aims to require all graduating elementary, high school, and college students to plant at least 10 trees before they graduate.
The law has been passed by the country’s lower parliamentary house, formalizes a tradition of planting trees upon graduation, also hoped to simultaneously fight global climate change.
House Bill 8728, or the “Graduation Legacy for the Environment Act,” is principally authored by MAGDALO Party-list Rep. Gary Alejano and Cavite 2nd District Representative Strike Revilla.
The Philippines’ Magdalo Party representative Gary Alejano, who was the principal author of the legislation, said: “With over 12 million students graduating from elementary and nearly five million students graduating from high school and almost 500,000 graduating from college each year, this initiative, if properly implemented, will ensure that at least 175 million new trees would be planted each year.
In the course of one generation, no less than 525 billion can be planted under this initiative,”
“Even with a survival rate of only 10 per cent, this would mean an additional 525 million trees would be available for the youth to enjoy when they assume the mantle of leadership in the future.”
The law states that trees should be located in Forests, Mangroves and protected areas, Ancestral domains, Civil and military reservations, Urban areas, Inactive and abandoned mine sites and other suitable lands.
“To this end, the educational system shall be a locus for propagating ethical and sustainable use of natural resources among the young to ensure the cultivation of a socially-responsible and conscious citizenry,” The House bill stated, which was authored by representative Gary Alejano.
According to Forbes, ‘’The Philippines consists of 7,641 islands in Southeast Asia. Across those islands, deforestation has been a primary environmental issue. Widespread development and agriculture have led to a significant drop in forested areas across the Philippines.
Through the 20th century, the forested area in the Philippines decreased from 70 per cent to 20 per cent. It is estimated that 24.2 million acres of forests were cut down from 1934 to 1988, primarily from logging.’’
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