Reforestation remains at the top of the environmental initiatives after Hedcor targeted 236, 000 trees to plant this year. The hydro firm achieved 210, 519 planted trees in Benguet, Ilocos Sur and Davao, recorded in the whole year of 2011 alone.
“Tree planting activity is for everybody’s efforts to attain the total protection and preservation of the forest and for the riverbank stabilization,” Hedcor vice president Gregorio Jabonillo said.
The host communities of Hedcor across the country were actively participating of its entire environmental endeavor.
Like in Mindanao, the host communities of the 42.5-MW run-of-river Sibulan Hydro Power Plant were the one who maintain the trees planted by Hedcor volunteers at the steeply sloping land of Davao del Sur.
During the Hedcor Sibulan, Inc. agreement of watershed management plan with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, local government of Davao del Sur and the community of Indigenous Peoples, Hedcor adopted 1000 hectares of the protected areas of Mt. Apo Natural Park to contribute the preservation of riverbank.
For sustainable development, Hedcor allows the host communities to request what trees to plant at their areas according to the farmers’ need.
“Usually, their requested trees were narra, mahogany, molave, bamboo, coconut, durian, rambotan, and lanzones,” Jabonillo said.
Hedcor listed anew of various reforestation-related activities this 2012 to supplement the watershed capacity due to Hedcor’s power generation is entirely dependent to the amount of river flow.
Hedcor is committed to promote Cleanergy, AboitizPower’s brand of clean and renewable energy, and will continue to look for more rivers to develop for run-of-river hydropower generation. To date, Hedcor has 18 run-of-river hydropower plants in the country with a total capacity of 150 MW.
