Copies of the Forest Restoration manual were turned over to DENR through Sec. Ramon Paje last June 6, 2016. EDC is represented by Ramon A. Carandang (right), head of Corporate Affairs Group and Atty. Allan B. Barcena, head of Watershed Department.
Energy Development Corporation (EDC), the country’s largest Renewable Energy company, in a move to re-educate its farmers and forest development rangers of its host communities to veer away from the one-size fits all type of reforestation, shared its years of experience in forest management by producing three volumes of the manual on Forest Restoration using Indigenous Species.
The publication is a demonstration of the company’s sincere commitment to restore forests within geothermal reservations and its surrounding project sites using variety of indigenous species. It aims to improve the existing reforestation strategies being conducted under the company’s BINHI program.
The manual aims to promote science-based method to reforestation that goes beyond just planting of trees. It introduces site-species matching and planting strategies that mimic the natural ecological processes of tropical rainforest ecosystems.
It considers the varying degree of degradation among the three most common areas for restoration in the country which are grasslands, brushlands and forest gaps, including the different forest formation types.
“I congratulate EDC, our staunch partner in environmental protection and preservation, in coming up with a manual that will help our foresters in the field in implementing forest restoration activities using our indigenous species”, Secretary Ramon J.P. Paje said during the turnover of the manual to the DENR last June 6, 2016.
EDC was represented by Ramon A. Carandang, Head of Corporate Affairs and Atty. Allan V. Barcena of the Watershed Department. Also present during the turn-over is Forest Management Bureau (FMB) Director Ricardo Calderon.
“With EDC’s years of experience in restoring the watershed in their geothermal reservations, I am positive that this manual is not only relevant but also timely in the light of growing initiatives in forest restoration like the National Greening Program (NGP)”, Secretary Paje said.
EDC’s BINHI Program is part of the National Greening Program (NGP) under a Memorandum of Agreement between DENR and EDC in 2011. BINHI aims to reforest 10,000 hectares of degraded forest lands within its geothermal reservations and frontier areas.
The manual is a collaboration between EDC and the Visayas State University (VSU), the pioneer institution in forest restoration and rainforestation. The manual was reviewed by the Technical Working Group (TWG) of the Forest Management Bureau (FMB) of the DENR.
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.
