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Philippines Adopt Tree Planting into Education

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10 June 2019

By Bronwen

The House of Representatives in the Philippines has passed a bill which requires all students leaving primary school, high school and further education to plant at least ten trees in order to graduate.

The bill which has been titled the “Graduation Legacy for the Environment Act” was passed after its third reading.

The students can plant trees on any suitable land, including both forest lands and urban areas. The trees should be appropriate to the climate and location of the area they’re planted in, and trees indigenous to the Philippines are preferred.

“With over 12 million students graduating from elementary and nearly five million students graduating from high school and almost 500,000 graduating from college each year, this initiative, if properly implemented, will ensure that at least 175 million new trees would be planted each year. In the course of one generation, no less than 525 billion can be planted under this initiative,” Representative Gary Alejano explained in a press statement, “Even with a survival rate of only 10 percent, this would mean an additional 525 million trees would be available for the youth to enjoy, when they assume the mantle of leadership in the future.”

It is hoped that the scheme will allow for the reconstruction of the Philippines forests that had been lost due to a lack of government supervision and foreign interest in the country’s resources.

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