LATEST NEWS FROM THE FIELD
Leonard Co Award for Best Native Tree Nursery, Due date June 30, 2013
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RFRI Secretariat position open. Application deadline April 25, 2013
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WWF Reforestation Grant
Deadline May 1, 2013
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MC No. 2012-1 calls for indigenous species only in protected areas, protection forests, mangroves and urban areas, plus a phased shift from exotics to indigenous tree in production forests.
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Leonard Co Scholarship Fund Offering Scholarships for Ph.D. and Masters Degrees
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UPCOMING EVENTS
Rainforestation:
Return of the Natives
With only about 24% remaining forest cover, the Philippines is suffering from the widespread loss of ecosystem services, including biodiversity maintenance, carbon sequestration, watershed protection, and local communities’ ability to harvest timber and non-timber forest products. The diminished forest cover has also contributed to the intensification of a variety of ‘natural disasters’, including flash floods, water shortages, and landslides. The dominant approach to reforestation in the Philippines focuses on the planting of a handful of exotic timber species, like Gmelina, Mangium, and Mahogany, but has limited environmental and social benefits. Rainforestation, by contrast, aims to begin restoring the Philippine forests by using native tree species, including many species of Dipterocarps, while providing forest-dependent communities with additional sources of livelihood. Backed by the Rain Forest Restoration Initiative (RFRI), a network of national and international supporters, Rainforestation is a well-researched, cost-effective, and widely applicable method of planting native tree species in order to achieve a variety of management objectives.