ALI developing carbon-guzzling forests

Anna Gonzales discusses Ayala Land’s 3-pronged strategy to attain carbon-neutrality by 2022

Property giant Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) has committed to nurture 450 hectares of land within or near its major commercial estate developments outside the metropolis as carbon forests, or those that absorb more carbon dioxide (CO2) than they use, in line with its ambitious goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2022.

The carbon forests are spread across five sites: Alaminos, Laguna; Sicogon, Iloilo; Lio, Palawan; Kan-Irag, Cebu; and Talomo, Davao City. These sites are estimated to store 68,000 metric tons of CO2.

The projected cost of maintaining these is not as staggering as people may think. “You’ll be surprised. It’s not as high as we thought as well. It’s about P42 million only until 2022 but the benefits are actually huge,” ALI sustainability manager Anna Maria Gonzales said in a press briefing on Wednesday.

Gonzales said the capital outlay for the project would not compare to the benefits that its communities would be getting. In partnership with nongovernment organizations, ALI would be using a technique called assisted natural regeneration (ANR), a forest management program extensively used in Southeast Asia but was successfully pioneered by local NGO Bagong Pag-asa Foundation in Bohol.

“With ANR, we recognize that the areas have trees growing in it because of birds and wildlife planting the seeds; but we’re nurturing that ability of an area to bounce back or grow on its own by actually protecting what’s already naturally growing there,” Gonzales said.

“ALI’s carbon forest sites are expected to augment ALI’s total carbon emission reduction by approximately 20 percent year-on-year,” Gonzales said.