In an era dominated by environmental concerns and climate change challenges, the future of the world is at risk of losing its beauty and precious natural resources that help provide essential sustenance, livelihoods and a nurturing environment for its inhabitants.

Forests, for example, are vital components of the Earth’s ecosystem, playing a crucial role in maintaining biodiversity, regulating climate, supporting water cycles, preventing soil erosion and offering a range of cultural, recreational and economic benefits to societies. Particularly, the Philippines boasts of its tropical forests, accounting for up to 25.7% or 7,665,000 hectares of the country’s land and is ranked seventh among tropical countries in their ability to store carbon.

However, there has been a gradual yet persistent decline in forest cover within the country as it witnessed a decrease in forest coverage from approximately 70% in 1900 to 24.2% in 2021. This reduction can be attributed primarily to illegal logging, slash-and-burn farming driven by rural poverty, and infrastructure construction.

Pioneering initiative

Mother Earth as we know her today is changing in all aspects at an unprecedented pace, urging humanity to take immediate and decisive action to preserve the delicate balance of our planet for the safety and security of future generations.

Energy Development Corporation (EDC) has been at the forefront of a pioneering initiative aimed at restoring and preserving the planet’s ecological balance. As the world’s largest vertically integrated geothermal energy producer and the Philippines’ largest all-renewable energy company, EDC is dedicated to safeguarding and propagating trees and forest cover through BINHI, its flagship environmental program.

Recognizing the pivotal role that trees play in geothermal energy production and in mitigating the adverse effects of climate change and global warming caused by harmful fossil fuel emissions, BINHI was launched in 2008 with the aim to conserve, propagate and protect the country’s native tree species and restore denuded forest lands. It stands as a beacon for biodiversity conservation, focusing on the preservation of indigenous Philippine tree species, the majority of which are already endangered or threatened.

Since then, more than 6.8 million trees have been planted across over 10,140 hectares of degraded and open forests in watersheds and protected areas in the Philippines under BINHI, while forests in its geothermal operations have absorbed over 1.7 million tCO2e. A total of 145 priority Philippine threatened native tree species were successfully propagated and are continuously being mainstreamed in 2022.

EDC acknowledges the collaborative nature of BINHI. Hence, they actively partner with various local communities, academic institutions, civil society groups (NGOs and private institutions), local government units and agencies such as the Department of Natural Resources. Together, they establish BINHI arboreta in accessible areas, serving as vital living laboratories for students, environmental enthusiasts and scientists. As of 2023, EDC’s BINHI partners grew to 216, establishing a total of 39 arboreta since its launch.

New arboretum

To mark its 15th year of inception, EDC, together with Nayong Pilipino Foundation, launched a new BINHI arboretum as a sanctuary for 50 premium Philippine native tree species that features a Miyawaki cluster for a simulated natural forest. During the memorandum of agreement signing between the two organizations, former corporate support functions vice president Regina Victoria Pascual emphasized the importance of collaboration between EDC and its partners.

“Protecting the environment has always been one of our top priorities at EDC,” Pascual said. “As a leading producer of geothermal energy that manages over 266,000 hectares of watershed areas in the country, EDC is in the challenging but privileged position to make a positive impact on the conservation and protection of our Philippine biodiversity, leaving a strong legacy for future generations of Filipinos to come.

“But of course, that is not something that EDC BINHI can do alone,” she continued. “It is through collective action, community involvement and strong partnerships with organizations… that our efforts to mainstream and bring back to abundance Philippine threatened tree species are sustained.”

As they forge more and more partnerships, EDC aims to increase the number of transformed outdoor spaces into green habitats for the country’s endangered tree species.

BINHI goes beyond forest conservation by fostering livelihoods within EDC’s operational areas. One example is EDC’s partnership with Baslay Highland Agriculture Cooperative (BASHACO), wherein the program empowers farmers to shift from environmentally harmful practices to regenerative ones, particularly in coffee farming. Through comprehensive training and support, their community has not only adopted sustainable practices but has also found a lucrative source of income, from coffee cultivation and harvesting to retail marketing and sales of their award-winning product, Baslay Coffee.

Fruits of BINHI

During the 40th anniversary celebration of EDC’s Palinpinon-1 Geothermal Power Plant, BASHACO chairperson Ruel Perez shared his firsthand experience in witnessing the dangerous farming methods on their land.

“I was just five years old when my father started bringing me to the farm areas where they would practice very destructive ways of farming,” Perez said. “It took EDC five years to finally convince us to vacate our forests and learn from them to address the problem of deforestation. From then, we were able to reforest more than 200 hectares of man-made forests. And because of our man-made forests, we now have Baslay Coffee.”

Perez mentioned that their cooperative recently turned 39 years old, thanking EDC for being there for them since day one. “I am not connected with any government agency [or] private institution, but I am proud to say that I am always connected with my people, my community and, of course, the many fruits of BINHI that EDC has granted in my community, Baslay.”

Undoubtedly, BINHI stands as EDC’s legacy greening program, proving to be a genuinely impactful social investment and stakeholder relations endeavor. It highlights the power of collaborative communication and action among corporations, government institutions and the general public, especially in the current global business landscape where a united call for climate action is crucial for the earth’s preservation.

For 15 years now, BINHI has since evolved into one of the biggest private-led forest landscape restoration programs in the country, keeping its promise to help EDC attain its mission to secure a decarbonized and regenerative future of energy for the Filipino people.

BINHI’s primary goal is to not only protect and cultivate the Philippines’ most endangered native trees, but to also raise awareness about the diverse array of species there is in the country

A lot goes on in the process of planting trees for BINHI, from identifying endangered and threatened native tree species and propagating the specimens to distributing the seedlings for planting in their natural habitat or other identified sites

Ruel Perez, chairperson of BASHACO, during the 40th anniversary celebration of Palinpinon-1
BINHI arboretum MOA signing between EDC and Nayong Pilipino Foundation on Dec. 1, 2023