KASIBU, Nueva Vizcaya—In line with the government’s National Greening Program (NGP) and to provide summer jobs for students in this mineral-rich town, an Australian mining company is tapping the services of local students to reforest the area.
Through the Special Program for Employment of Students, in partnership with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and this municipality for the implementation of President Aquino’s flagship reforestation program, OceanaGold Philippines Inc. (Ogpi) has employed 550 students tasked to prepare seedling propagation in different village nurseries and clean 50 hectares within the municipal jurisdiction designated for the reforestation program.
Ogpi operates the Didipio gold-copper project in this upland town.
“The objective of the SPES is to help poor but deserving students pursue their education by encouraging their employment during their summer vacation and providing them income to subsidize their studies,” said Ogpi vice president for communications and external affairs Chito Gozar.
A recipient of various awards for its reforestation programs including the Best Mining Forest Awards in 2009 and 2010, Ogpi has committed to support a 50-hectare reforestation project in the open and denuded villages in this town.
“As part of our advance rehabilitation program years back, the company has already planted more than 100,000 trees, covering 103 hectares, even before the NGP. Some of them are now harvestable,” said Gozar.
The Cagayan Valley regional office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and Ogpi have forged a memorandum of agreement two months ago at the Nueva Vizcaya State University in the capital town of Bayombong to launch the national reforestation project.
The national government-initiated program in collaboration with different stakeholders and partners shall undertake the planting of 1.5 billion trees covering 1.5 million hectares in span of six years, from 2011 to 2016, in order to mitigate climatic change, ensure security of water supply, conserve biodiversity and establish reforestation and agro-forest to alleviate poverty.
The United Nations declared 2011 as International Year of Forests.
