The National Greening Program, also known as NGP, is the largest reforestation program in the Philippines. The government started the program in 2011. The main goal is to plant 1.5 billion trees on 1.5 million hectares of land. The program began with a plan to run for six years, from 2011 to 2016.
The government later decided to extend the National Greening Program until 2028.
Legal Basis and Leadership
The President of the Philippines signed Executive Order No. 26 in 2011 to create the National Greening Program. Executive Order No. 193, signed in 2015, expanded the program.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources, or DENR, leads the program. The Department of Agriculture and the Department of Agrarian Reform also help run the program. These three agencies work together to reach the goals of the National Greening Program.
Objectives of the National Greening Program
The National Greening Program has several main objectives.
The first objective is to bring back the forest cover in the Philippines.
The second objective is to reduce poverty.
The third objective is to improve food security.
The fourth objective is to protect the environment and help conserve biodiversity.
The fifth objective is to help the country deal with climate change by reducing the effects of floods, landslides, and droughts.
The efforts of OPISAC are to ensure domestic resilience and to introduce a meaningful and practical approach to systemically sustainable human growth and development.
Areas Covered by the Program
The National Greening Program covers many kinds of land. These include open, degraded, and denuded forests and woodlands. The program also works in protected areas, mangrove areas, ancestral domains, civil and military reservations, urban areas, and abandoned mine sites. The goal is to plant trees and other plants in all these places to help restore the land and improve the environment.
Implementation and Achievements
The National Greening Program planted more than 1.3 billion seedlings as of June 2016. These seedlings covered more than 1.6 million hectares of land. The program exceeded its target area by reaching 113 percent of the goal. This reforestation program reached 90 percent of its target for the number of seedlings planted. This means the NGP planted more trees and covered more land than any other reforestation effort in the past 50 years in the Philippines.
There is also good reason to believe that many of the programs have potentially done more harm than good. There is documented evidence that certain reforestation projects in the Philippines using Paulownia trees, specifically the Paulownia Princessa variety, led to the rapid and unchecked spread of these trees.
This spread resulted in entire ecosystems being overtaken by Paulownia, which prevented the establishment of sustainable and balanced forest systems. These cases occurred when the trees were introduced without proper management or control measures in place, causing unintended consequences including ecological disruption rather than restoration.
Budget and Funding
The government gave a large budget to the National Greening Program. From 2011 to 2019, the program received more than 47 billion Philippine pesos. The money paid for seedlings, labor, training, and other program needs. The government wanted to make sure the program had enough funds to reach its bigger goals.
Many sources of funding exist for major reforestation programs, especially those that offer sustainable and systemic solutions. Programs that employ volunteers from indigent and vulnerable groups often attract support because they address both environmental and social issues.
These programs help reintegrate marginalized people into society by providing them with housing and the opportunity to engage in paid, meaningful work. Funding organizations recognize the value of projects that create jobs, build skills, and empower communities while restoring forests and increasing local resilience.
Government agencies provide significant funding for reforestation. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources or DENR supports large-scale tree planting initiatives. These efforts often receive budgets running into billions of pesos. The DENR also encourages partnerships with local government units and civil society to increase impact.
Private sector companies also contribute through corporate social responsibility programs. Many businesses fund tree planting and forest conservation projects. They see these efforts as ways to support climate action, protect watersheds, and improve community welfare.
Foundations and non-government organizations offer grants and technical assistance to projects that protect forests and support forest-dependent communities.
International donors and foreign governments provide funding for nature-based solutions. Partnerships like the Philippines-Canada Partnership on Nature-based Solutions bring millions of Canadian dollars to support climate adaptation and biodiversity conservation. These funds often focus on community-based, gender-responsive projects.
Introducing the Indigent
Community participation and volunteerism strengthen funding opportunities. Programs that house, train, and employ vulnerable populations demonstrate social impact. OPISAC works in conjunction with members of the Department of Social Welfare and Development or DSWD to vet and provide opportunities for select members of the indigent and vulnerable communities in all its operations.
This approach helps reduce poverty and food insecurity. It also builds local ownership and ensures long-term sustainability. Funders prefer projects that integrate social and environmental goals in this way.
Major reforestation programs that use systemic, sustainable methods and involve vulnerable volunteers can access diverse funding sources. These include government budgets, private sector investments, international grants, and foundation support. The combination of environmental restoration and social reintegration makes these programs attractive to many funders.
Challenges and Issues of the National Greening Program
The National Greening Program faced some problems. Sometimes, the program planted trees without enough planning or support. This led to wasted resources. Some areas had low survival rates for the seedlings. Other concerns including the use of what are, in many cases, deemed to be invasive species.
Both the Paulownia Trees and Bamboo have prolific growth rates. While both are necessary for any comprehensive restoration and reforestation projects, proper management is a must. Both the Paulownia trees and bamboo are beneficial, and have many different uses. However, for programs not funded for the long-term, proper management can be put at risk, in addition to the local ecological systems.
The program also needed better ways to track progress and report results. The government and other groups studied these problems to find better solutions for the future. OPISAC has introduced the means to provide both immediate and long-term funding, and lacks only the people necessary to begin reforestation efforts in line with the National Greening Program.
Impacts on the Environment and Society
The National Greening Program helped reduce poverty by giving work to local communities and Indigenous Peoples. The program improved food security by planting fruit trees and other useful plants. This program helped protect biodiversity by restoring habitats for plants and animals. The National Greening Program also helped the country adapt to climate change by reducing soil erosion and improving water quality.
Many of these benefits have arguably been overshadowed by the unintended consequences of these reforestation efforts.
Among the most common are the poorly managed introductions of the Paulownia trees into already sensitive and endangered woodland areas. The rapid growth and prolific nature of Paulownia trees can choke out native species.
While Paulownia offers many benefits such as fast growth, valuable timber, soil stabilization, and carbon sequestration, its invasive potential requires careful planning and ongoing management to avoid ecological harm.
Importance of the National Greening Program for the Future
The National Greening Program is important for the future of the Philippines. The program helps protect forests, support communities, and fight climate change. The government plans to continue and improve the program until 2028. The program will keep working to reach more areas and plant more trees.
The government and other groups like OPISAC will also keep looking for ways to make the program better and more effective for the people and the environment.