• March 2023

    sea ​​turtles. Out of more than 300 species, only seven live in the sea (photo Gerald Nowak).

Is Mama Earth now going underwater? No, but we also deal with sea turtles and their offspring through plastic collection from the mangroves and beaches. But where is the connection to Gerald Nowak, the famous underwater photographer? Quite simple: Through his many diving trips to the Philippines, he has received an award from the tourist authority, which is endowed with 25,000 Peso. He donated this amount directly to Mama Earth. We doubled the amount and bought coloring books and crayons for 50,000 Peso for the children in Mindanao to be distributed during various activities. 153 sets (2 coloring books and 12 crayons per set) have already been distributed. Please follow us on Facebook “Mama Earth Foundation” for the further actions.

Our urgent plea: avoid single-use plastic wherever you can. Here is a short video about the impact of plastic bags and plastic drinking straws:

The next mangrove plantings are planned for the week after Easter, because Easter is a family festival here, when especially family members visit each other, so the buses are packed. Before everything gets back on track, it’s already mid-April. The seedlings are already waiting in the nurseries and are looking forward to finally being able to stretch out their roots and grow wild. If you want to read something about mangroves between the work reports you can visit the Facebook page “Malizia Mangrove Park”. Every week, two new posts are posted there showing the wonderful world of the mangroves, but also reporting about the country and its people.

Gerald Nowak and his wife Sibylle on an outrigger boat during one of their diving trips to the colorful underwater world of the Philippines.

Nearly a ton of plastic was collected by the Amihan sa Dahican group for Mama Earth in just one month to provide barrier-free access for the turtles.

In Montevista we have only 11 farmers as partners. Accordingly, the assembly is small.

It’s different in Monkayo. Almost 100 partners accompany our mahogany project and look forward to the payments soon.

Teak and Mahogany
We have resumed our regular meetings with the farmers, because there is a lot to organize in the coming months. At the moment we are looking for a central storage place to store the first trees after felling. The transport will only be profitable when we can load 5,000 board feet (about 12 cubic meters) and bring them to Davao. As a reminder, a mahogany tree with a trunk diameter of 36 centimeters has about 200 board feet, or almost half a cubic meter. So we have to load at least 25 logs, but they are already stripped of bark and cut into square or rectangular shapes. Since mahogany trunks has a high moisture content after felling, the logs must be stored for around three months before transport.

Bamboo
Thanks to the massive support of the mayor’s office in Monkayo, we were able to plant the area almost full with bamboo. Only about 1,200 seedlings are missing, which will be planted in the second week of April, after Easter. The inspection will take place before Easter to determine the exact amount. In the meantime, the seedlings that have not grown will be replaced. In total, 8,000 seedlings will grow towards the sun, which is approximately 500 sets, but because we love a little safety cushion, and quite a few sets have already found lovers, only 240 sets are still for sale. Whoever is interested, should get in touch, because at these conditions it will probably not go further because for this first planting the mayor’s office has taken over the transport and planting costs and has made the area available free of charge. But do not rush, because we continue to plant blithely and the costs will not increase dramatically. For those who would like to learn more about the Bamboo Shareholder Plan, all the information can be found at this link: https://indd.adobe.com/view/ac4c9192-b6a3-4ce7-9be6-ebe6378e3406

The inventory is finally done, but there is no end to the work, especially since the farmers are very eager to cut the trees at short notice.

Many helping hands make it possible to plant quickly, which is necessary, because the large truck of the mayor’s office can load more 2,000 seedlings.

Questions about the topic? Ask them to us!