The Energy Development Corp. has planted more than a million trees on 1,300 hectares it has reforested in Negros Occidental from 1995 to 2013, Allan Barcena, EDC's Ecosystems Care Manager, said in a press release yesterday.

In fact, he said, it has planted on 186 hectares in Negros Occidental, way before it started operating the Northern Negros Geothermal Project in Bago City as proof of its commitment to preserve the forests.

Reforestation has always been integrated in EDC's operations because it is vital to its business sustainability, he said..

In 1989, EDC started implementing its integrated social forestry program to transform slash and burn farmers into forest stewards by monetizing their efforts in helping the company maintain its reforestation areas, the press release said.

From 1995-2008, EDC has planted 496 hectares in its area of operation in Bago City and Murcia, Negros Occidental. About 230 hectares of these were planted in the Mount Kanlaon Natural Park, it added.

This meant that EDC had already started planting trees prior to its utilization of 12.5 hectares in the MKNP Buffer Zone in the third quarter of 2008, Barcena said.

In late 2008, EDC took greening to a whole new level with the launching of its BINHI greening legacy, he said.

BINHI is EDC Chairman Emeritus Oscar Lopez's commitment to the Clinton Global Initiative, which aims to reforest 1,000 hectares per year from 2009-2018, the press release said.

EDC also to planted 600 additional hectares of denuded forestland mostly in the Northern Negros Natural Park, it said.

"Our 9 farmers' associations protect and maintain our reforestation areas and get compensated for it. This livelihood enables them to provide for their family's needs, Barcena said, in the press release.*

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