Wodden Plantation

National Greening Program can employ 5 million poor upland families

MANILA, Philippines — The National Greening Program (NGP), the first to consolidate all greening projects, can employ five million poor upland families, substitute imported food, and generate P80 billion revenues a year.

While a hectare of land can earn P120,000 a year, NGP agro-forestry sites, even at an estimated yearly revenue of only P10,000 per hectare per year, can generate P80 billion yearly. This is for the entire eight million hectares which is the total of all unproductive and denuded forest lands.

However, the NGP will require billions of investments while the target of the Aquino Administration over its six-year term is the planting on only 1.5 million hectares.

Nevertheless, the NGP remains to be one of the present government’s priority programs.

NGP’s target is to plant or reforest on 100,000 hectares on the first year (100 million seedlings); 200,000 hectares on the second (200 million seedlings) and 300,000 hectares on the third to sixth year with 300 million seedlings planted yearly over the last four years.

“For the first time, the NGP is driven, not just by one, but by all government agencies through a National Convergence Initiative,” according to Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Ramon J. P. Paje.

Revenue to be generated from the NGP will benefit upland communities who will receive allowances for the planting program in the form of the conditional cash transfer (CCT).

“Built into the NGP are cash incentives for families that will be stewards of the plantations. There will also be benefits from processing and marketing the crops,” he said.

While the NGP is primarily a reforestation effort, it also aims to plant food crops that can possibly substitute part of the country’s importation of three million metric tons (MT) of wheat yearly, 1.2 million MT of rice, and 125,000 MT of soybean.

“Imagine how much we’d save if we could source all that locally, how much wood, paper, and forest by-products we’d get for national use, and how much the country could earn from exports of such products.”

The NGP, to be implemented under Executive Order (EO) 26, is aimed to provide an alternative wood production over a long-term period of perhaps after 10 years after government’s logging ban issued in February under EO 23.

Despite NGP’s promise, wood authorities contest that plantation crops from programs as the NGP can never substitute the quality of wood that can only come from natural forests which are the sources of hardwood. Besides, natural forests replenish themselves over a 25-year cycle without having to be expensively maintained.

Plantation Shutters Beautify Today's Homes With New Charm | Window ...

One of the easiest ways to enhance the look of your home is by installing exterior or interior plantation shutters. They look great on the outside of homes when perfectly matched to the style of the home. But most people don’t know they can be just as alluring on the inside as well. Particularly if you have odd shaped windows which require a bit more thought about the perfect curtain design.

A set of wooden plantation shutters just might be the perfect look you’ve been looking for to give the room just the right amount of light to highlight you’re already well appointed dining room, office space or living room. No longer revered as just a way to keep the outside elements from entering, today they provide more function and a wider variety of uses. You can use real wood or faux plantation shutters to mimic the look they provided to period homes during those times.

Before shutters, all types of materials were used to cover the openings in early century homes. Some home bodies experimented with rocks, others with bushes, hewed planks and several other material solutions that were cumbersome and worked only some of the time.

The most appreciative replacement for modern day shutters was marble slabs. These slabs were mounted on rails or sliders for ease of adjustment. Although they were great protection from the wind and rain, they totally eliminated the light and did not help air circulation when they needed to be completely shut to keep out the elements.

Visit any of the fourteenth century dwellings and you’ll see how valuable a discovery plantation shutters were. The Italians and the Spaniards were extremely adapt in using shutters, even after window glass became available and inexpensive for the commoner. The colors and designs are unassuming and perfectly integrate with the style of the home and the surroundings.Plantation shutters come in many styles, materials and designs today. The color variety can be bought or stained to match virtually any decor where the central theme of shutters is the design focal point. Although many of the older wooden shutters were designed with wide planks as a starting point, it became less of a design solution when the purpose changed. They provided a function that was appropriate for the times, but now they add more of an artistic flavor for today’s home. They are available in varied plank widths, sporting broad or narrow louvres depending on the application. The choice is open for the designer to decide what works best for the project.

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Ecosystem Goods and Services from Plantation Forests

Plantations and Protected Areas in Sustainable Forestry

Ecosystems of disturbed ground