THE Philippine Nickel Industry Association (PNIA) through its 8-member companies, reported a total of 6.3 million trees planted over 3,167 hectares in their respective mining areas.
The group said that despite the slowdown in operations during the community quarantine period, members have planted an additional 809,656 more trees in the first two quarters of 2020 alone, covering 322 hectares of land or equivalent to approximately 600 football fields, bringing their total number of planted trees to over 6 million to date.
PNIA said the increase in tree planting efforts resulted in a 13.9 percent growth in the total number of trees planted as of the second quarter of 2020.
Last year, the group planted a total of 5.3 million trees.
“PNIA members have consistently delivered beyond compliance to demonstrate our commitment to environment protection and rehabilitation. PNIA members have invested over P203 million on continued environmental protection and enhancement program activities and specifically P59.7 million on progressive rehabilitation this year despite the pandemic,” said Charmaine Olea-Capili, PNIA executive director.