Davao church adopts site for tree planting

MANILA, Philippines - Davao City church leaders have taken another step against global warming by joining the "adopt-a-site, plant trees" program of the city's Water District in the city's Baguio district. Some 30 coordinators of San Antonio Parish in Agdao, first responded to the call by planting 278 seedlings of trees in the watershed area of Malagos. A statement posted late Thursday night on the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines website said the coordinators were from the Gagmay'ng Kristohanong Katilingban (GKK) or Basic Ecclesial Communities. Earlier, Auxiliary Bishop George Rimando called on the people to help in the campaign against global warming, which already started in the mid-twentieth century. Rimando said that as "stewards of the Earth" man take good care of the environment to save it from possible future deterioration. Dominador Lopez, parish pastoral council coordinator, also lauded the efforts of GKK coordinators who helped in planting trees. He added that by planting more trees in the watershed, underground water, which is the source of potable water in the city, would be retained. Carbon dioxide and other green-house gases cause global warming. Trees absorb carbon dioxide in the air, and that deforestation lessens earth’s capability to absorb and breakdown carbon dioxide. "Hopefully, other parishes would also do the same," he said. Last Feb. 4, a memorandum of agreement (MOA) was signed between the parish represented by Fr. Pablo 'Paul' Dagangon and Davao City Water District (DCWD), which administers the Malagos watershed. The MOA states that the parish would adopt a one-hectare land area in the watershed where they would plant trees and maintain the area every two-three months for five years. The group will come back after two months to do some ground weeding. - GMANews.TV