• February 2021

    Forestry often requires sufficient buffalo and horse power to get the seedlings to the planting site and the equipment for maintainance to your trees. But also the forest managers and forest workers march heavily packed.

Mahagony Trees

We don‘t want to write so much about mahogany in this work report, but rather focus on our other activities. So that you can see what we do all day long, our forester Pablo has cut some videos that shows part of the work in Patag. This version is not ready yet for public, because the big trees from the first plantings are growing in Monkayo and Montevisa. In March 2021 they will be visited with a camera and drone to incorporate them into the video, as well as the new planted seedlings, and to document them before we post it on YouTube. Join us in the mountains.

To the Video

Trees for nine Cities

It‘s no longer a secret that we understand a lot about trees and forestry. Our forest managers are all well trained and highly motivated, our forest workers are constantly trained. That is why we were commissioned by the PEP (Puno Edukasyon at Para sa Kabuhayan (Trees for Education and the Improvement of Living Conditions)) to grow thousands of trees for different programs. These actions are planned for the next ten years.
Our tree nursery on Samal Island concentrates on growing indigenous flowering trees, which first decorate the streets in nine cities in Mindanao in recycle bins and are then planted there. Our tree nursery in Patag is responsible for our own and other organizers reforestation with endemic trees, where, for example, over 2,000 Dao seedlings will soon be ready to be planted. Daos are strong trees that grow up to 40 meters tall and form huge buttress roots, which the woodcutters do not like (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dracontomelon_dao). Our Dao trees are not planted to harvest wood, but to enrich the forests with this wonderful tree.

Our tree nursery on Samal Island is expanding rapidly so that we will soon be able to plant thousands of endemic trees on behalf of PEP.

This hilly corner is the area in Patag where our office will be built. The parked motorcycle marks the place where the entrance should be.

At least every two weeks we go to Mati to discuss the next steps with the team. The obligation to wear masks is a burden during the conferences because the temperatures are mostly around 30 degrees Celsius.

Fisher wives go from house to house trying to sell what the sea delivers. She is holding mussels in her right hand and seaweed in her left. Each pack costs 100 pesos (1.75 euros). She must earn 20 Euro daily because four women share the income.

Trees for Schools

Our project „Trees in schoolyards“ is not making progress, because the responsible authority Department of Education (DepEd) is still prevented from making decisions by the Corona restrictions, despite video conferences. In order to be able to make a final decision, the schools must be visited, which is currently not permitted in groups. We don‘t think much will change by the end of the year.

Mangroves in Mati

Our mangrove reforestation in Mati with Boris Herrmann are approaching the first quarter of a million. There is still a long way to go, but small steps can also lead to the goal. We are grateful that we are supported from many quarters, whether it is the governor or the mayor, or the planters and fishermen, everyone can see that we are doing serious reforestation to help the people.
The Mama Earth Foundation always has one goal: To live with and from trees. If we don‘t give people an income, they won‘t respect nature and never cultivate it sustainably. The Malizia Mangrove Park aims to help nature, but also people.
Regardless of whether you are harvesting more fish and mussels or growing more nipa palms for making roof coverings, baskets and mats. We are also working on an action to fish the plastic from the sea and start teaching the fishermen not to concentrate on fishing, but to grow algae for a growing market in the sea. That would have a double effect: algae are food for the fish, which would allow the populations to grow and at the same time protect the stocks because the fishermen would not have to overfishing their income.

Office in Patag

We are setting up a satellite office in Patag, because we have again expanded our planting areas for mahogany. The property is leased for 50 years and the lease can be extended for another 50 years. The office will be a simple wooden house to hold our meetings there, to cook a little, but it should also be a point of contact for our visitors. However, we are currently jam-packed with work planting mahogany. Oh, the topic shouldn‘t have a place this time