Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. will sign two agreements with the Department of Environment and Natural Resource for the adoption of planting sites as part of its climate mitigation and biodiversity protection program.
“Toyota shares the responsibility in protecting the planet Earth and in fighting climate change in line with United Nations Sustainable Development Goals,” said TMP president Atsuhiro Okamoto.
Under the National Greening Program, Toyota will team up with DENR Region IV-A to formalize the adoption of the planting sites in October.
The project sites—in an upland forest block in Siniloan, Laguna and mangrove forests in Calatagan, Batangas—will host 41,000 new trees and mangroves in a span of five years.
TMP initially mobilized groups of volunteers to plant 10,000 trees and 5,000 mangroves in the projects sites in September.
It also participated in the International Coastal Clean-up Day, turning over to the local authorities 150 kilograms or 21 sacks of plastic wastes collected from the Calatagan coastline.
“Global Toyota implements the Toyota Environmental Challenge 2050 to achieve zero carbon dioxide emissions and net positive environmental impact by year 2050,” Atsuhiro said.
As a biodiversity conservation effort, Toyota committed to plant native and fruit-bearing tree species in a 50-hectare area on the tail-end of Sierra Madre mountain range in Siniloan.
The area, according to University of the Philippines Los Baños, is the habitat of endemic flora and fauna such as the Philippine hornbill, gray monitor lizard, civet cat, cave nectar bat and wax plant species.
The Sierra Madre hosts some of the country’s oldest forests and serves as a natural barrier against typhoons with its long mountain range on the east of Luzon.
TMP also committed to planting 16,000 mangrove propagules in an eight-hectare area on the coast of Calatagan. The project extends Toyota’s existing NGP planting site in Lian, Batangas where the company has already planted 30,000 mangroves since 2018.
The two coastal sites are both part of the Verde Island Passage which is considered as the “center of the center of marine shorefish biodiversity” in the world.
TMP environment manager Mark Anthony Marcelo said mangroves are a distinct part of Toyota’s climate change solution in the Philippines.
“Mangroves have high capacity to absorb CO2 as they store up to 10 times more per hectare than terrestrial forests. Mangroves also serve as a blockade against storm surges and are crucial to marine life and livelihood of coastal communities,” Marcelo said.
TMP’s local tree-planting, mangrove-planting, coastal and river-side clean-up activities are part of the “All Toyota Green Wave Project,” a Global Toyota initiative which started in 2015.
It connects the Toyota Network – including TMP team members, dealers and suppliers – to nature conservation activities while mitigating climate risks and supporting livelihoods of local communities in the long run.