Geothermal leader Energy Development Corporation (EDC) and the Bencab Art Foundation, Inc. (BAFI) of national artist Benedicto Cabrera, more popularly known as Bencab, are now partners in saving and propagating endangered premium native trees.
As part of EDC’s BINHI: A Greening Legacy project, EDC and BAFI employees led a tree planting activity in Bencab’s eco-trail and farm located below his museum in Tuba, Benguet.
Together with the University of the Philippines-Baguio and the Philippine Society for the Study of Nature, EDC and BAFI planted 100 seedlings consisting of 18 premium native endangered tree species at Bencab’s eco-trail.
BINHI is a nationwide reforestation and biodiversity preservation project initiated and being implemented by EDC to arrest forest degradation, contribute to climate change mitigation, and provide sustainable livelihood for forest communities.
Launched in 2008 using EDC’s three decades of experience in integrated social forestry as platform, BINHI has become a model for corporate-led reforestation programs among Philippine businesses.
What sets it apart from other reforestation efforts is its focus on bringing back high-value but fast-dwindling native trees such as yakal, tindalo, kamagong, mangkono and ipil.
Rei Medrano, EDC manager for corporate social responsibility, explains that BINHI is not an ordinary reforestation project.
“We source the few remaining seedlings of endangered premium native trees and grow them into mother trees in planting sites where they can be best protected and nurtured. These sites include, but are not limited to, school grounds, public parks, leisure estates, residential areas and urban spaces as available.
These mother trees will be used to propagate more seedlings for transplant all over the country.”
To ensure the sound implementation and sustainability of BINHI, EDC enters into long-term agreements with BINHI hosts and monitor them through a databank and GIS-generated map.
Ultimately, BINHI seeks to empower the Filipino people so they may take it upon themselves to regenerate these tree species that would have otherwise been lost to us forever.”
BAFI is EDC’s 97th partner for the BINHI Tree for the Future project. As a BINHI partner, BAFI will host the permanent planting area within the eco trail of the Bencab museum and share in the responsibility of implementing the long-term protection, monitoring and maintenance of the planted trees until these have grown into mother trees.
BAFI will also provide yearly updates on the status of the seedlings for the EDC-DENR BINHI website and database.
Medrano added that EDC has already rescued 85 premium endangered tree species out of the 96 target priority species with the help of its BINHI partners nationwide.
About EDC
Energy Development Corporation (EDC) is the Philippines’ largest producer of geothermal energy and a multi-awarded Filipino corporation in the fields of geothermal development, environmental excellence, corporate governance, and corporate social responsibility.
Operating 1,130 MW of fully integrated geothermal plants representing 61% of the installed power generation capacity in the Philippines, EDC is largely credited for making the Philippines the second largest producer of geothermal energy in the world.
EDC’s efforts to develop geothermal as a clean, renewable and indigenous source of energy have substantially reduced the country’s dependence on imported oil and helped diversify the Philippine power mix.
In keeping with its objective to develop more indigenous power that would not only be benign but also protective of the environment, EDC has equity in two hydropower projects: 60% equity in the 120-MW Pantabangan and 12-MW Masiway hydropower plants located in Northern Luzon. EDC is also developing an 87-MW Wind Power Project in Burgos, Ilocos Norte.
The Energy Development Corporation (EDC) is a pioneer in generating 100% clean, renewable, and reliable power as an electricity supplier in the Philippines for over 40 years. With power plants all over Visayas and Mindanao, the company is one of the biggest producers of geothermal energy in Asia and is expanding its reach in the international market, allowing it to offer customers affordable energy rates. EDC also strives to provide the best customer service it can to all its clients by having helpful salespeople and easy to understand contracts. Because of all of this, it is poised to become the premier supplier of electricity for the Philippines’ Green Energy Option Program. EDC takes its mission as a renewable energy provider seriously and goes beyond sustainability by investing in programs that enhance the environment and empower its partner communities, thereby fostering regenerative development. The company has also been working toward being carbon-neutral by improving its energy efficiency, as well as implementing various greening projects to ensure that its mission to provide future generations with a better life remains intact.
