Globe is stepping up its “rainforestation” efforts in partnership with Hineleban Foundation, which now covers 34 hectares in Bukidnon. The leading telecommunications provider committed to donate P30 million within a 5-year period to cover 300 hectares of denuded primary rainforests in Bukidnon and Lanao del Sur.
“Our partnership with Hineleban Foundation for this initiative is supportive of our environmental sustainability policy which seeks to lessen the impact of our operations to the environment. This partnership can truly make a difference because it is a sustained effort, using the tested and successful techniques of Hineleban Foundation to increase forest cover by 2021,” Yoly Crisanto, Globe Senior Vice President for Corporate Communications, said.
Beyond reforestation efforts, Hineleban and Globe have been working together since 2016 to tap local communities to become guardians of the rainforests. The land area, which is the focus of the foundation’s reforestation program, covers six mountain ranges, engages more than 21 barangays and is home to the indigenous people of Bukidnon and Maranaos of Lanao del Sur.
Currently, the 34 hectares are being planted with Brazilian and Caribbean pine trees and other indigenous tree species. The reforestation benefits around 826 households of surrounding communities in Sitio Bagalangit and Baranggay Kalugmanan, Manolo Fortich. The next phase will commence this year and will benefit local families in Barangay Baylanan in Talakag, Bukidnon.
The 300 hectares of denuded primary rainforests, that will be covered by Globe Telecom’s financial support, form part of the 4,896 hectares total target area of “rainforestation” by Hineleban Foundation in Bukidnon and Lanao del Sur. Hineleban Foundation’s “rainforestation” program will be implemented in five phases over a five-year period, which started last December 2016 until December 2021. It will follow the rainforestation model methodology that comprises 3 major components: reforestation, food security and sustainable livelihood development.
Urooj Malik, chairman and chief executive officer of Hineleban Foundation, welcomed Globe Telecom’s commitment to step up support. “There is an urgent call to action in the Philippines. To date, the country is down to less than 1.8 percent of primary forest cover since the 1970s due to massive environment degradation caused by kaingin, rapid conversion of rainforest into farms, massive logging operations and forest fires. With the environmental crisis we are facing today, we are thankful that we can find individuals and companies who find sustainable ways to grow while protecting our environment,” Malik said.
Hineleban Foundation is a non-stock, non-profit organization based in Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon. The group is composed of individuals focused on the restoration of the environment and sustainable livelihood for the Lumads and the Bangsamoro through Transformational Business Partnerships, with the objective of fostering peace through inclusive development. The foundation believes that “rainforestation” of the mountains of Mindanao is the only long-term solution to reducing the effects and risks of climate change and to attaining food self-sufficiency, bringing back three crop cycles per year.
Globe Telecom’s P30 million donation to Hineleban Foundation will be funded in part by the fees collected from postpaid mobile and broadband customers who continue to use paper billing. In 2015, the company launched its paperless billing campaign to contribute to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal of Life on Land – centered on protecting, restoring and promoting sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss. While majority of the company’s customers have already shifted to paperless billing, there are still those who prefer to receive paper bills. These customers will help fund the reforestation program and indirectly will be able to participate in the company’s green initiative.