The Sierra Madre mountain range is the Philippines’ shield against the worst of typhoons, heavy rains, and flooding that barrel through the country from the Pacific Ocean. Stretching for greater than 500 kilometers, the series of mountains serves as a protector for Filipinos from Cagayan within the north to Quezon province within the south, including those in Metro Manila.
Nonetheless, data from the Haribon Foundation notes that the nearly 1.4-million-hectare forest is disappearing at a rate of 9,000 hectares per yr, mostly on account of illegal logging, mining, and quarrying, making flash floods and landslides more common. In response, each the private and public sectors have conducted reforestation drives to revive lost forest cover.
One such project is the GCash in-app platform, GForest, which enables users to contribute to varied environmental initiatives on their phones. Supported by over 25 million registered users, as of today, the Philippines’ leading finance superapp initiative has led to the planting of greater than 4.2 million trees covering greater than 18,000 hectares of land, supporting each reforestation and agroforestry projects while providing incremental livelihoods to over 15,000 farmers and foresters, and their families.
For its latest endeavor, GForest teamed up with the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), for a broader collaboration that supports multi-year forest rehabilitation, research, and community-based livelihood development throughout the Sierra Madre Land Grant.
“We’re very comfortable every time people come over and visit the positioning. It helps create awareness since the individuals who come here talk concerning the place. So, it’s easier for us, actually, to advertise rehabilitation of the realm,” UPLB College of Forestry and Natural Resources Dean Marlo D. Mendoza, who oversees the realm, said throughout the event.
The collaboration goals to plant trees on not less than 250 hectares of the land grant using around 135,000 native seedlings, as some species can’t be mixed, together with one other 25,000 seedlings for urban greening spanning 10 kilometers of road.
The UPLB dean noted that the project is being tackled from a really practical viewpoint, with applications in real-life situations. He believes that projects of the identical kind should be checked out with the whole value chain in mind, from collecting, planting, maintaining, processing, after which marketing products from the land grant.
“By way of impact, we’re taking a look at communities that can reduce their dependence on forest-based or wood-based illegal activities, because, this time, we’ll have delivery, planting, and processing, and, in all elements of the worth chain, communities shall be engaged.” Mr. Mendoza said.
GForest, through its local and international planting partners, has provided incremental livelihoods to over 15,000 farmers and their families across the Philippines. A further eleven foresters from all walks of life shall be working on the Sierra Madre reforestation project, all of them coming from surrounding areas.
One in every of the employees, Harold Den, has been a forest employee for many of his life, rehabilitating places and planting trees for a living. One other employee, Mark Alex Pacis, a father of two, says that the project has been his family’s primary source of income. Coming from the youth, Jack Lawrence Balsindan, 21, has been learning the ropes, having been a forest employee for less than a month.
Despite their different backgrounds, the community knows the importance of their work and has even placed an emphasis on the necessity to plant more trees to avoid natural disasters and reverse the consequences of world warming.
“Mahalaga ang pagtatanim upang maiwasan ang landslide, pagbaha, ‘tsaka ‘yung climate change… Para na rin maprotektahan yung mga endangered species dito (Planting is very important to stop landslides and flooding, and since climate change is already happening. It also helps protect the endangered species here),” Mr. Pasis said.
Beyond its environmental impact, the project also provides a significant source of livelihood for local farmers just like the ones mentioned above, who see it as each a way of survival and a long-term opportunity for his or her families.
“Mahalaga ‘to para sa’kin kasi ito kinakabuhay ko ngayon, para sa pamilya ko, para sa mga katrabaho ko. Ito po ay napakahalaga sakin dahil ito po ay bigay sakin na trabaho para mapakain ko ang aking pamilya, ‘tsaka po pang-matagalan po kasi ito (This is very important to me since it’s what I do for a living now — for my family and for my co-workers. It’s very essential to me because this job was given to me so I can provide food for my family, and it’s something long-term),” Mr. Pasis explained.
As local farmers find meaning and livelihood in restoring the Sierra Madre, GCash continues to deepen its commitment to sustainability by recognizing that each tree planted nurtures communities and strengthens the country’s resilience against climate challenges.
“Supporting Sierra Madre shouldn’t be only a project of GCash; it’s a shared responsibility. It protects hundreds of thousands of Filipinos from floods and typhoons, including our users. For us, that is about managing our industries and constructing national resilience. Through GForest, we turn every digital motion into environmental impact,” Moya Ganzon, Head of Impact Innovations, Sustainability at GCash said.
The act of planting trees goes beyond placing seedlings within the soil; it’s a journey of growth, where roots take hold to turn into firm, lasting, and grounded in purpose. Just as trees take root to strengthen Sierra Madre’s landscape, GCash takes root in its advocacy, embedding itself in sustainability, community, and innovation.
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