会议时间：2019年3月21-23日
会议地点：奥地利·格拉茨
演讲嘉宾：Pastor L. Malabrigo Jr
University of the Philippines Los Banos, College, Laguna, Philippines

摘要：
The Philippines is one ofthe 17 mega-diverse countries in the world and considered the mostimportant country for conserving diversity of life on earth. Philippine plants,of which more than half are found nowhere else in the planet, represent 5% of the world’s flora. Regrettably, Philippinebiodiversity are also the most threatened in the planet being the 2^ndbiodiversity hottest spot and the 4^thmost endangered forest ecosystems with only 7% of the original forest coverremaining. The 2017 Philippine Red List for Plants listed 984 threatenedtaxa including 153 premium tree species. Understanding the lack of capacity ofthe government to sustain a huge task of forest protection and biodiversityconservation, the Energy Development Corporation(EDC) initiated a noble corporate social responsibility program called BINHI(Filipino term for seedling). BINHI is the country’sfirst comprehensive private sector-led restoration program that focuses onthreatened tree conservation, carbon sequestration, socio- economicdevelopment, and ecotourism. Acknowledging that forest and native treeconservation is a battle that can’t be won if it isfought alone, EDC partnered with schools,private and non-government organizations, academics, artists, and governmentagencies. EDC followed four key steps in trying to prevent theextinction of Philippine threatened trees namely: 1) species rescue andprotection; 2) mass propagation; 3) establishment of future mother trees; and 4) advocacy and awarenesscampaign.Since 2008, EDC has been exploringalmost every island of the Philippines to document and geo-tagged remainingnatural populations of some of the rarest and most threatened premium nativetrees. With coordination and partnership with concerned agencies, propaguleswere collected and mass propagated through vegetative material recovery (VMR)facility. Propagules produced from the VMR were donated and planted to schoolsand parks. To date, EDC has planted around 8,000 threatened trees in 164partner schools all over 16 regions of the country. To promote awareness andbetter appreciation, all planted trees are properly labeled with importantinformation about the tree, including the name of the planter. EDC developedBINHI website where photos of regular monitoring per planting site areregularly uploaded allowing the planters to monitor the performance of theirplanted trees. This paper will highlightthe remarkable accomplishments, lessons, and inspirations acquired from BINHI’s8-year experience, from creating awareness for the youngsters through an annualyouth conference, to developing partnerships and protocols for the propagationand conservation of the country’s vanishing trees.

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