Toyota Motor Corporation Initiates Phase 2 of Philippine Tree-Planting Project

Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) announced it held a signing ceremony to mark the start of Phase 2 of the Philippine Peñablanca Sustainable Reforestation Project, a tree-planting effort in the northern Philippines.

In a joint effort in the town of Peñablanca (about 500 km north of Manila), TMC, the Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the Peñablanca Municipal Government and the environmental non-governmental organization Conservation International have been conducting reforestation efforts since September 2007. Under Phase 2, which starts this month, 728 hectares more are to be reforested by July 2013, bringing the total area covered by the project to approximately 2,500 hectares.

In addition to planting trees, the project seeks to give root to practices that support the livelihood of the local community, while ensuring the reforestation effort remains a success. It is also part of an overall endeavour to promote sustainable regional development, such as what TMC has been pursuing in China and elsewhere. In Phase 1, the project included the establishment of a forest exclusively for harvesting wood for fuel as a way to ward against the unregulated felling of trees, as well as promoted the planting of mango, cacao and other fruit-bearing trees. Part of the harvest income from these could be used to establish a fund managed by cooperatives set up by the project for expanding and sustaining the reforestation. In Phase 2, to encourage residents to continue reforestation activities beyond the conclusion of the project, efforts will focus on heightening the awareness of residents, strengthening the cooperatives set up, and commencing use of the fund to finance the reforestation. Also in Phase 2, volunteers from TMC local subsidiary Toyota Motor Philippines Corporation are scheduled to plant 1,000 trees over the next three years.

In December 2009, the project was awarded a Gold rating for its high standards under the international Climate, Community and Biodiversity Project Design Standards.