The Sierra Madre Mountains is the longest mountain range in the Philippines. It spans from the province of Cagayan to the north and Quezon to the south and forms the eastern backbone of the Luzon Island. Human activity is denuding the forests and therefore a massive reforestation is needed in the area.
Save the Sierra Madre Mountains
Needless to say, the growing population in Luzon is threatening the forest habitat of the Sierra Madre mountains. The settlers living at the lower portions of the slopes are generally engaged in logging and charcoal-making. That is the reason why some portions of the forest cover are already second growth forest.
Lucio Tan III, son of the late Lucio “Bong” Tan, Jr., took over his father’s position after the latter’s early demise.
He made clear his first order of business. It’s a massive environmental sustainability project that aims to plant 12 million trees around the Sierra Madre mountains. This is one way of celebrating his dearly departed father’s life and carrying on his legacy.
Green Canopy Project
Tan recently launched the Green Canopy Project, which is a reforestation project created by his father under Two Degrees, Inc. This was held during a ceremonial tree planting activity facilitated by Allianz at the LT Group’s Absolut Distillers property in Lian, Batangas. The younger Tan replaced his father as president of Two Degrees, Inc.
He shared that the project will tackle reforestation of the Sierra Madre Mountains in Cagayan. This will be done together with the support of leading global insurer Allianz.
“As of today, 500,000 trees have been planted in the area, which covers part of a total of 24,000 hectares of land.”
~Lucio Tan III
Aside from reforestation, “my father had also hoped to provide employment to local communities. Rest assured, I intend to continue my father’s green advocacy and other efforts that promote sustainability. I believe in impact investing. Additionally, I believe that environmental consciousness should be adopted in every level of business in order to secure future stability, ” Tan explains.
He added that it’s the only way to go if “we want a future for this planet.”
The Involvement of Allianz PNB Life
Allianz PNB Life president and chief executive officer Alexander Grenz, said,
“Allianz has taken sustainability very seriously for many years now, even before it became the ‘buzzword’ today. It is part of our DNA to protect natural resources and to contribute to a low-carbon economy. We also want to involve ourselves in environment projects, social inclusion, and proper business governance.”
~Alexander Grenz, President and CEO Allianz PNB Life
Tan said that he is confident his first environmental project will gain support, especially within the Group.
“Thank you for being the first among the companies to support the Green Canopy Project. I am confident that we are in good company. We know that Allianz is not only a leading global insurer, but a worldwide leader in sustainability,” he said.
Allianz has been hailed as the Most Sustainable Insurer by the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for three years running, because of its various environmental initiatives in different countries. One of the countries they support is the Philippines.
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Allianz also made Green Canopy Project as the beneficiary of its environmental advocacies and employee engagement projects.
How to Get to Cagayan Valley
Cebu Pacific flies twice daily to Tuguegarao City from Manila.
Now, I wonder, when will a massive reforestation campaign like this be launched in Negros Occidental? Bacolod needs more trees because the city is already very hot and easily gets flooded. The original Negros forest cover is dwindling. We need more sustainable efforts like this in our island province, too.
This is a very big effort but our world needs more unified actions like these. Two Degrees and Allianz understand that if our environment is destroyed, there will be no more business, no more people, and no more future. They are protecting their future investments today. Let’s all act now wherever we are to save and rehabilitate the environment.
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Saving trees and all greenery of the world should be in the agenda of each government because the state of it is terrifying and we should make a lot of effort to preserve it for future generations.
I am one of those who want to preserve nature for future generations. I just wonder how many tourists do not concern themselves with the earth. They just go around and cause so much garbage and destruction.