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Phone 202 303 405

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Personal Info

To make an offline donation toward this cause, follow these steps:

1) You may do a bank transfer/check donation to Bank Name: BDO
Account Name: Philippine Parks and Biodiversity Conservation Service Inc.
Account Number: 001240236547
2) After donation, email finance.phparksandbio@gmail.com and include in the subject "Donation from ___".
3) Our team will be sending a certificate of donation afterwards

Your tax-deductible donation is greatly appreciated!

Donation Total: ₱1.00

Rewilding Backyards and Cities

Small-scale planting and restoration projects can have big impacts. City greening creates cleaner air and more beautiful spaces and has huge benefits for the mental and physical health of urban dwellers. It is estimated that trees provide megacities with benefits worth USD 0.5 billion or more every year by reducing air pollution, cooling buildings and providing other services. 🌳🌼🐝 (FAO)

In an article posted on Rappler, they summarize the need for parks and green spaces in the Metro:

“The 2011 Green Cities Index by Siemens and The Economist Intelligence Unit showed that Metro Manila has only 5 square meters of green open space per inhabitant, compared to the minimum 9 square meters recommended by the WHO.

The Philippine urban planning resource Public Parks and Open Spaces says that the proportion of open space to every 1,000 population is now down to 0.2.

For visual proof, here’s a map of Metro Manila’s few green spaces made in 2019 by the DATOS Project of the science and technology department.

Metro Manila NDVI map from DATOS Project Facebook

The map uses red and near-infrared bands to detect live vegetation in an area. Green areas mean areas with vegetation. The darker the shade, the more vegetation. The large patch of dark green on the upper right is the La Mesa Watershed located in Quezon City but only a portion of it is open for public use.

Many of the green spaces are cemeteries (like the Manila North and South cemeteries) and exclusive golf courses (like Wack Wack and Manila Golf and Country Clubs).

The lack of open green spaces varies for each of the 16 cities and one town that compose Metro Manila. Data obtained by Rappler from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) NCR office shows that 9 cities fall short of the WHO standard of green open space based on their respetive population sizes: Caloocan, Malabon, Mandaluyong, Manila, Navotas, Pasay, Pasig, Pateros, and San Juan.

Manila, the city with the highest deficit, needs 26 more Rizal Parks if it is to comply with the WHO recommendation.”

This is why we’re launching the REWILDING CITIES movement starting with Metro Manila. We want to bring back green spaces primarily by mainstreaming native trees and other native flora in the city— in gardens, in privately-owned spaces, government spaces, schools. We envision cities where nature abounds in every corner, where people are able to reap its benefits by making it a part of their daily life. It is not just a beautification project, but a project to contribute to every citizen’s well-being.

Photo on cover from @themanilawild, Toolkit designed for us by tayo.com.ph

Together with the Philippine Native Tree Enthusiasts, we collaborated on a toolkit outlining easy steps for you to get involved, with native trees from a local nursery you can start your rewilding project on! If you’re interested to start planting native trees where you are in the city and more than just planting, GROWING them, fill up this form and you’ll get a toolkit from us to start your small project!

And if you want to lead a local effort & be a champion for this movement, there are different ways you can be involved:
  • Convince your local government to mainstream native trees and create more green spaces and urban parks in their locality
  • Gather your homeowners association and discuss how you can mainstream rewilding backyards in your own homes with 1-2 native trees
  • Convince your village or subdivision park to get involved! If they already have a designated park, do an inventory of the existing trees and flora and see what can be done to further rewild the area, mainstreaming native ornamentals and trees. If they do not have a designated green space, get their commitment to institutionalize one!
  • If you are a part of a school or have access to one, encourage them to have their own arboretum or native tree park!
We can help facilitate all of the above and provide technical support also in collaboration with our existing partners.
Sign up to spearhead a project and let’s discuss how we can work together: bit.ly/rewildingbackyardschampions