One tree at a time

MANILA, Philippines - “I think that I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree...” Some stories say that when famous poet Joyce Kilmer wrote Trees in 1913, he was inspired by the numerous oaks, maples and white birches that he saw while looking out at his office window in New Jersey.

Simple yet meaningful, the poem pays tribute to the beauty and usefulness of trees. Almost a century later, Kilmer’s poem remains much-quoted in many parts of the world.

Last May 26, nearly 200 officers and employees of Belle Corp., Highlands Prime, Inc., Tagaytay Highlands, the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB), and GIZ, as well as media representatives, planted 150 fruit-bearing trees such as atis, duhat, guava, guyabano, and star apple at the Bird Sanctuary in Tagaytay Highlands. The activity is a kick-off to the leisure complex’s goal to plant 1,800 trees by June 2012.

The multi-sector event dubbed “One Tree at a Time” forms part of the events organized for International Day of Biodiversity 2012 and the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity (2011-2020), a global celebration that seeks to promote the involvement of a variety of national and intergovernmental actors and other stakeholders in the goal of mainstreaming biodiversity into broader development planning and economic activities.

The annual “One Tree at a Time” tree planting activity of Tagaytay Highlands started in 2010 when ACB partnered with the leisure destination for its first tree planting activity with a representative from the business sector. Because of this joint project, Tagaytay Highlands was recognized by the international institution as a “Friend of Biodiversity”. Since then, Tagaytay Highlands has maintained its position as an agent of change on how it sees business.

About 200 volunteers planted trees in Tagaytay Highlands to celebrate the International Day of Biological Diversity.

“The third One Tree at a Time coincides with Tagaytay Highlands’ 18th anniversary celebration. Planting trees is part of our thanksgiving to Mother Nature. Without trees, there will be no air to breathe and without air, there will be no life to live. The trees that we planted will also provide Tagaytay Highlands’ various species of birds and insects a new home. More importantly, we will pass on an important legacy to the future generation,” Willy Ocier, founder of Tagaytay Highlands, said.

The tree planting activity, accredited as a project under the global Green Wave campaign of the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, is part of the vision of Ocier to plant one million trees in 50 years inside the Tagaytay Highlands complex. For the last 18 years, a series of tree planting activities have been conducted inside the exclusive complex for a greener Tagaytay Highlands.

“Apart from planting trees, we also conserve energy in significant respects. During off-peak days, Tagaytay Highlands splits up the lighting of the street lights and turning on the lights only in the important areas to minimize electricity consumption. To reduce this even more, incandescent lights have been replaced by compact fluorescent ones which cuts down energy usage up to 60 percent. Likewise, heavy equipment are operated and maintained on a set schedule to minimize the electricity consumption. We also promote the use of renewable resources,” said club president, Jerry Tiu.

ACB executive director Rodrigo U. Fuentes lauded the leisure complex for its simple acts of green. “At ACB, we believe that investing in biodiversity conservation makes sound business sense. Thus, we are promoting business for biodiversity in the ASEAN region. We are grateful to Tagaytay Highlands for joining us in the Green Wave Tree Planting campaign. Its efforts to help save the world by planting one tree at a time will go a long way in conserving our environment.”

He also encouraged other businesses to join the green bandwagon. “Apart from planting trees, you can promote the wise use of water and electricity, recycling and proper waste disposal. These small daily acts of green can make a big difference in our lives,” Fuentes said.