Rio Tuba pursues tree planting program

MANILA, Philippines — Rio Tuba Nickel Mining Corp., a subsidiary of Nickel Asia Corp., begins the last stretch of the company’s journey towards its goal of planting five million trees in Rio Tuba. Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque graced the ceremonial planting of the first of the remaining 900,000 trees RTN needs to complete its 5M goal.

To date, RTN has a record of about 4.1 million surviving trees planted in various areas covered in its mine rehabilitation and reforestation programs.

According to environmental planner, Janice Tupas, manager of the Mines Environmental Protection and Enhancement Dept. (MEPED) of RTN, there is a mechanism that her team and the Mines and Geosciences Bureau of the DENR employ that actually monitors and counts the survival rates of the trees they plant.

Despite its economic contributions to the fiscal health of the communities, the mining industry continues its campaign to foster appreciation and instill the sense of environmental stewardship among the people of Palawan. RTN believes that contributing to the restoration and protection of the rich forest ecosystem in Palawan is a moral obligation.

RTN is one of the mining companies deeply committed to achieving ecosystem restoration and reforestation in mined-out areas. Applying progressive rehabilitation strategies, RTN, in its more than 50 years of operation in Rio Tuba, proves that an active mining company can create a forest in its path and can be the catalyst in the re-greening of a province like Palawan.

To date, RTN rehabilitated a total of 196.64 hectares of its mining area where it has planted 1,205,763 surviving trees of different species including as narra, ipil, apitong, agoho, udling, kupang, batino, tongkat ali, amugis, among others. Some 663.08 has. have been reforested with native tree species, coffee, mangroves, botanical plant, and some industrial trees, in support of the government’s Green Philippine Highway Project; Adopt-a-Mountain Project; and the National Greening Program.

RTN plants trees to fulfill the objective of mine rehabilitation to restore disturbed areas to a safe, non-erodible condition, establishing land use capability that is functional and back to the condition, if not better, before disturbance.

“Planting five million trees is not something ordinary organizations can easily do, but RTN endeavors this for Palawan and in fact, RTN intends to plant more in the years to come,” ends Tupas.