THE Philippines must double its forest cover to withstand stronger floods and weather disturbances brought by climate change, Haribon Foundation said.
Haribon Foundation’s Head of Strategic Partnerships Erika Bergara offered this assessment in the season finale of The Chairman’s Report, hosted by Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) Chairman Dante Ang II.
The episode, which aired on Friday, Sept. 12, underscored how reforestation, mangrove restoration, and biodiversity protection can serve as cost-effective and sustainable alternatives to man-made flood control projects.
“We need 54 percent forest cover in our forests. Right now, we’re at 24. We need to double [that],” Bergara said, citing Haribon’s decade-long restoration work in Quezon Province that transformed landslide-prone mountainsides into safer and more resilient ecosystems. Ang, for his part, pressed the urgency of integrating nature-based solutions in disaster mitigation strategies.
“As we’re talking about this, maybe there should be more discussion between Haribon and Public Works. Because building concrete seawalls may not be as effective as planting mangroves. The mangroves will probably last longer,” he said.
Ang added that a greater appreciation was needed for this natural wealth. “They’re probably sitting on wealth that they don’t know about. And so they don’t get to harness it, much less appreciate it.”
Bergara agreed, pointing out that mangroves not only serve as natural coastal protection barriers but also sustain livelihoods.
“If we invest in reforesting our mangroves, we’re actually creating or supporting a larger coastal industry as well in protecting all the other life that happens in our coasts,” she said.
Beyond climate resilience, the episode also placed the Philippines on the global biodiversity map as one of only 17 “megadiverse” countries.
“In our lands and waters, there’s so many different kinds of wildlife and so many different kinds of species, different kinds of trees, and different kinds of coral,” Bergara said.
“And the diversity of this is only seen where we are. A lot of these different species can only be found in the Philippines,” she added.
With biodiversity loss and climate disasters looming, Haribon and CFO have partnered to strengthen diaspora engagement in biodiversity efforts and promote resilient communities through the agency’s Lingkod sa Kapwa Pilipino (Linkapil), a program initiated by the CFO to systematically facilitate the engagement of overseas-based Filipinos in national development initiatives.
It provides a means for the transfer of various forms of resources from overseas Filipinos to support small-scale, high-impact projects to address the country’s needs.
The program was designed for overseas Filipinos to support projects in livelihood development, education, health-related activities and small-scale infrastructure.
The CFO, established under Batas Pambansa 79, is dedicated to the welfare and empowerment of Filipinos permanently residing abroad. It is distinct from the Department of Migrant Workers, which primarily addresses the needs of overseas Filipino workers and other temporary migrants.
CFO works to strengthen the social, economic and cultural ties of Filipinos overseas with their home country. Its primary constituents include Filipino permanent migrants, dual citizens, spouses and partners of foreign nationals, individuals in exchange visitor programs, au pair participants, and children of foreign nationals with Filipino roots.
