• May 2025

    A dying mangrove, approximately 80 years old. Many fungi, lichens, mosses, ferns, and insects find their habitat niche here.

Friends are important

As is well known, Mama Earth is apolitical. But that doesn’t mean we are naive; we follow the madness of politics with great concern. Military spending is incomprehensible, and the use of these products is inhumane and contrary to all humanity. Of course, we understand that people’s fears are increasingly focused on impending disasters rather than planting trees and mangrove reforestation.

However, a balance must be found when madness becomes part of everyday life. Friends, for example, are very important, whether people or animals. There is no difference here. For Mother Earth, trees are also friends. We cannot hug or caress all the trees that have already been planted, but we know that they are growing. That alone is a good feeling. And when we encounter certain trees, we hug them on behalf of all the trees we have planted. This gives us strength and confidence. Contact with trees grounds people and helps to counteract the ruthlessness of the world.

And because we are confident that the future will be better, we have launched two new projects to confirm this, which we are pleased to present here.

Learning is a significant concern for us. Especially against the backdrop of rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI), one’s own knowledge is the best way to analyze the accuracy of swarm knowledge. so as not to parrot nonsense as truth. That’s why we supply our chairs made from marine debris to schools, have delivered many tumblers to avoid the senseless use of single-use water bottles, and have set up several donated water dispensers. Now comes the next step: we will plant native trees in schoolyards and set up benches made from marine debris next to these endemic trees to remind people that plastic is the plague of our time. Soon, schoolchildren will be able to sit in the cool shade of the trees during breaks instead of under the hot tin roofs of the buildings. We are starting with trees that are already over two meters tall. This way, the children learn to live with trees that might even become their friends.

We planted nearly 3,000 endemic trees in the mountains of Marilog, Davao, in July 2022, on average, 600 meters above sea level. Many are already four meters tall or more, but do not yet have a tree sponsor.

In romantic surroundings, apart from the concrete ring road that is slowly being reclaimed by nature, 109 Toog jungle giants grow around a small lake, some of them already eight meters high.

A rarity in the Philippines: a fully grown narra tree. It is the national tree, but was exported as precious wood during the Japanese occupation.

Reforestation is sometimes necessary to increase biodiversity in existing trees, as certain species have been cut down for economic gain.

We will offer these large school trees in schoolyards as special myTree sponsorships. But it will take some time until then. In the meantime, you should take advantage of the trees that are already planted in the mountains of Marilog. There, we planted almost 3,000 endemic trees by mid-2022, including blooming varieties. Approximately 800 are still available. Take advantage of it. A tree card costs 10 euros, or a download costs 7.50 euros.

And if you like things big, give away one of our Toog trees planted in Montevista, Davao de Oro, which can grow up to 40 meters tall. Thousands of these impressive giants were harvested during the American occupation from 1898 to 1946 to be used as railroad ties in America. Act fast, because of the 109 trees currently growing, just over 50 are still available.

In Mati, we are launching a new tree planting project with selected endemic trees. Since Mati has almost become our second home thanks to the mangrove reforestation projects, it is easy to implement the project because our people are always on site. Stay tuned, we will provide more details in the next work report.

The aerial roots (pneumatophores) growing toward the sky have the task of supplying the tree with oxygen because the sediments are low in oxygen.

Seagrass beds are a very important link in the chain of mangroves, meadows, and corals. Under no circumstances should they be planted with mangroves.

Exchange between mangrove specialists from Mati and Ba­ganga. Mama Earth works as a team because we learn from each other.

In some of Baganga’s protected areas, different coral grows right up to the water’s surface. A sign of an intact natural environment.

You have probably been wondering about the mangroves. Planting is in full swing here. Our 11 tree nurseries are always working at full capacity. We are pleased to announce that we have surpassed the 3-million mark for the Malizia Mangrove Park. There is still a lot of work to be done before we reach our milestone of 5 million, but we are confident that you will continue to support us and that we will achieve this goal by 2027. Every mangrove is a gain.

Since we financed the expansion of the turtle breeding facility in Mati, Danican Beach, Peter from Amihan Brothers is painting our logo on the wall.

The protected breeding facility now has almost twice the capacity. This has become important because more and more turtles are coming to lay their eggs.

Questions about the topic? Ask them to us!