Involving communities in growing trees

Through these partnerships, Hedcor secures the stewardship of the planted trees and promotes the buy in of the community in growing trees in their perimeter.

Lorenzo Salvador Jr.

, a retired police, is one of the 37 landowners in Bauko and Sabangan, Mt. Province who partakes in this program.

When Hedcor Sabangan started the construction of the 14-MW Sabangan hydropower project back in 2013, its watershed management program was simultaneously launched. Now that the hydropower facility is operating, Hedcor Sabangan is still and will never stop implementing its watershed management program.

Using the family based approach Hedcor encourages landowners to adopt trees in their lands. Seedlings of pine trees, alnus, fruit bearing trees and coffee are given to the families who wishes to turn their idle lands into productive sanctuary of trees.

Hedcor, through a contract with landowners, financially supports the maintenance activities undertaken by the landowners to ensure the survival of the planted trees. The contract spans up to three years, by then the landowners benefit from the trees through timber or the fruit it bears.

”The program encourages landowners like me to take care of the trees since it is ours,” says Lolo Lorenzo.

 Lolo Lorenzo has this grand plan to see his five-hectare land with Alnus trees integrated with coffee trees.

Recently, all Hedcor companies participated in the Aboitiz Groupwide Simultaneous Tree Planting activity. Hedcor planted 16,500 trees in five locations including Sabangan.