Join IP Children & Elders Replant 1000 Trees

For two years in a row now, one of the Mountain ranges in the Philipines called the Sierra Madre mountain stretching from Cagayan Stretch in Northern Luzon to Quezon province in the south has become a barrier wall that naturally breaks the eye of the storm when it passes in the area.  Recently, typhoon Tino with a threatening storm signal number 4, the new metrics of storms now in the Philippines was broken in terms of its speed, it slowed down and wind gustiness tempered due to the still rich vegetative cover of Sierra Madre that collided head on the eye of the storm when it passed in the area. 

This has happened also last year with the storm Catrina that was also reduced into lower storm onslaught  because of Sierra Madre mountain ranges.  By this time the benefit of a dense forest and its critical role in warding off storms thereby avoiding the much-feared damage of lives and properties has struck the hearts of the people.  Maintaining the dense forest is now non-negotiable and everyone is calling for a campaign  to save Sierra Madre from the destruction of deforestation, mining and even quarrying. Because once Sierra Madre is gone... there will be no forest to protect communities when storms which come to the Phillippines 20 times or more every year. The call for reforestation has never sounded loud than it was before. 

Hence the people of Lapat community in Nabuangan Conner Apayao has taken to heart this new realization  and are now more than conscious to save also their watershed area...the expansion area for this tree planting activity among elders and children. 

The community  collective effort currently is geared towards completing a new microhyro system that necessitates concreting a portion of the power canal.  Hence tree planting was observed and sustained by individual members fo the community.  They will resume their regular planting work next year. Slowly, each did each share to ensuring that bit by bit, a tree is planted in open patches.  Most importantly, it is rainy season , and again mortality rates are low and newly outplanted species are expected to survive  with a greater percentage.

So again we thank you for all the support you give to the people of Lapat who continued to do their  part in protecting and improving the vegetative cover of their watershed area not only for sustaining water availability for their microhydro power but for the  very important concern of building a barrier or wall that diminishes the destructive power of storms coming their way.

We thank you for all your continued support and  be assured that your gifts are saving lives, maintaining a watershed area that has become the lifeblood of indigenous peoples as they battle the ravages of climate change and virulent storms.

Thank you and God bless your for your generousity.