• October 2023

    This photo vividly shows that the seeds only grow when they are stuck upright between the wuzels. On the limestone surface, natural expansion of the mangroves would take hundreds of years. Here, the soil must be broken up to replant mangroves that were cut down half a century ago.

Mangroven

By now it should be known that we are tackling an experiment with the team of Professor Lea Jimenez (University of Mati), which is unique in its kind, but based on reliable facts. To our knowledge, this is the first experiment of its kind in the world. It is known that mangroves increase fish stocks measurably after a very short time, even if the mangroves are still small. So do reefs, even when corals are still in their infancy. What if intact mangrove populations and intact reefs are close together? Does the fish population then increase in potency? To answer this question, a damaged reef in Pujada Bay will be repaired in January 2024 (www.rrreefs.com). At the same time, mangroves will be planted as close as possible to the repaired reef. Documentation of the development will be provided by the university.

All the preliminary work has already been done. The trial area has been surveyed and designated as a strictly protected area by the Department of Environment and Natural Resuorces (DENR) The containers with the first clay fired bricks will arrive in Davao in early January 2024 and will be shipped directly to Mati. These building blocks were still fired in Switzerland. Meanwhile, in Mindanao, we have found one best suited for 3D printing from five types of clay in different areas in Cateel, a small town a little more than two hours’ drive from Mati. Further information:
https://www.team-malizia.com/news/reviving-pujada-bay-corals-meet-mangroves-in-a-collaborative-project-in-the-philippines
https://www.archyde.com/reviving-coral-reefs-restoring-marine-ecosystems-with-clay-brick-modules/

In Pujada Bay, too, reefs have been destroyed, causing fish stocks to dwindle. Here man must repair what was destroyed by ignorance or ignorance.

The bricks, fired from clay, are open-pored so that the coral spores settle on them without human help and grow into corals.

The grass is cut where the trees grow. On the sides it is not managed, because there can collect moisture from the morning dew, if it does not rain for a few days, which is rarely the case.

myTree Gift cards

While Christmas is not yet on the horizon, we would like to remind you of our great gift cards that “fit” any occasion, even without an occasion as a gift will bring great joy. If you download them on the Internet, they are somewhat unadorned, but as a high-quality gift card in the envelope very convincing. But the important thing is that each card, whether ordered on the net and printed or delivered by mail as a gift card, vouches for a tree that we have already planted.

School chairs

A bit tired is also our action with the school chairs made of collected and melted down plastic waste. At the moment we are furnishing the Indigenous People (IP) School in Mati. More than 100 chairs are still needed there. So if you want, you are welcome to donate one or more school chairs. A chair costs 38 Euro, not cheap, but also valuable, because these chairs are almost indestructible. And the good thing is that the plastic waste is removed from the sea and gets a second life through the school chairs.

Bamboo

The interest in bamboo continues to be high, but we do not yet have another area to expand our bamboo plantations. As written in the September 2023 work report, it is not easy to find farmland for this. However, there is now another possibility to make bamboo plantations more attractive for farmers, because bamboo partner Burkhard Kiehne has developed a composite material from bamboo fibers, which could be of interest for the construction sector. Not only because it can be produced cheaply, but also because it can be used for outdoor applications, something that the gypsum boards commonly used in drywall construction do not meet.

Giant bamboo in the nursery.

All seedlings growing from seeds on sprinkler tables.

Questions about the topic? Ask them to us!