THE Green Wave, a multi-year tree-planting campaign for
children and the youth, is catching on in the Philippines and the rest of
Southeast Asia, the Asean Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) has said.
The global project, which was launched recently by the
Secretariat of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (SCBD),
leads up to 2010 - the International Year of Biodiversity.
ACB executive director Rodrigo Fuentes said Green Wave
participants in the Asean region included two organizations from the Philippines
and a school in Singapore.
Fuentes said in the Philippines, the Youth for Sustainable
Development Assembly - Pilipinas planted wild cinnamon or kalingag (Cinnamomum
mercado) in Manila. He said the plant was chosen because it was given by a
farmer from Mindoro, who is involved in efforts to reintroduce the formerly
common specie. Kalingag has many culinary and medicinal uses, most of
which are lost today.
He also said the La Union National High School in San
Fernando planted narra, because it is the Philippines' national tree and
provides shade, fresh air and absorbs increased amounts of water during the
rainy season.
He said in Singapore, the German European School Singapore
planted Myristica fragrans, the nutmeg tree, which will be the "first"
tree in the school's spice garden.
Fuentes said the global "Green Wave" started rolling last May
22, the International Day of Bio-diversity, and the rest of the year should be
enough time for people prepare for the next Green Wave toward 2010, the
International Year of Biodiversity.
He said in participating schools, students plant a locally
important tree species, ideally indigenous, in or near their schoolyard.
Students and teachers can upload their tree planting activities, stories and
pictures and track other initiatives on greenwave.cbd.int. People around
the world can then view all the Green Wave trees through Google maps.
"Hopefully more schools, children, organizations and
governments can get involved and ride the Green Wave so we can dramatically
increase our gifts to nature," he said.
He said local action is encouraged and contributions provide
support to other global advocacies, such as the United Nations Environment
Programme's (UNEP) Plant for the Planet Billion Tree Campaign.
He said while teachers, students and the youth are the
primary targets of the campaign, everyone is encouraged to participate in the
Green Wave by donating seedlings, funding its activities, and getting experts to
talk about it in school.
The European Union-assisted ACB and the SCBD, organizer of the Green Wave
campaign, recently signed a memorandum of cooperation to conduct joint programs
in the areas of biodiversity research, capacity building and training, public
education and awareness, policy development and coordination, as well as
technical cooperation for the conservation and sustainable development of
biodiversity in the Philippines and the rest of the Southeast Asian region.
