THE London-based FCF Minerals Corp. has established 155.52 hectares of new plantations for 2023 in the province of Nueva Vizcaya under the National Greening Program (NGP) and its Mining Forest Program (MFP).
This brings to a total of 2,656.069 hectares of established plantation in the continued implementation and improvement of the company’s mining forest program since its operation started, making it among the top mining forest contributors to NGP.
Lorne Harvey, FCF Minerals Corp. general manager for operations, said this is the result of their progressive environmental rehabilitation, enhancement of biodiversity and forest protection activities “in fostering environmental security and social responsibility.”
The company’s Mine Environmental Protection and Enhancement Office, headed by FCF Sustainability Manager Leopoldo Castro Jr., aligned the MFP with the following United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: clean water and sanitation, climate action, life below water, life on land, responsible consumption and production, sustainable cities and communities, no poverty, zero hunger, good health and well-being, gender equality, reduced inequalities and partnership for the goals.
FCF Minerals’ reforestation program strategy also addresses the economic aspect of the project area’s impacted and surrounding communities. Its designs incorporate agroforestry livelihood components by “… planting high-value crops like durian, rambutan, lanzones, mangosteen, avocado, lemon, calamansi, guyabano, cacao and coffee …,” said Harvey.
About 176,931 planting materials were produced for the year 2023, and 211,020 available planting materials created in their nurseries were withdrawn for the different environmental and rehabilitation programs.
Various forest tree and fruit-bearing species seedlings were distributed for the following reasons: MFP expansion, 55,943 seedlings; tree-cut replacement compliance, 96,102 seedlings; replanting activities, 10,123 seedlings; and enhancement planting with 2,780 seedlings.
Another 12,809 seedlings were donated to the host village of Runruno and its surrounding communities under the company’s financial and technical assistance agreement area, and 3,375 seedlings given for the greenhouse gas (GHG) offsetting program.
To date, donations to the GHG offsetting program were 233,758 planting materials while NGP donations reached more than 1.5 million planting materials.
FCF is committed to rehabilitating disturbed areas, creating suitable habitats and reintroducing native species.
Rehabilitation
“Exotic species previously planted in our rehabilitation were culled out. Technologies, such as using ‘dayami’ for slope stabilization and low-cost hydroseeding, are employed for efficient vegetation growth,” he said.
FCF also actively engages stakeholders, implements comprehensive biodiversity management programs and supports initiatives like assisted natural regeneration, arboretum establishment and research projects.
“We have already rehabilitated a total of 49.34 hectares disturbed areas to date,” Harvey said. He explained that the low hectarage on the mine area rehabilitation was due to the ongoing activity within the mine area wherein large open or disturbed areas were still under operation or classified as active mine areas.
Continuous maintenance and monitoring ensure the survival of the planted species within the rehabilitated areas. Harvey said they are “compliant with the Mines and Geosciences Bureau’s requirement of establishing two plantations to every hectare disturbance with 150.29 percent or 820.454 hectares established plantations under our mining forest program.”
The company has planted more than 2.16 million and donated more than 1.73 million, making it a total of 3.90 million planted since its start of operations.
FCF Minerals has established a total of 62.51 hectares of bamboo plantation within and surrounding the company’s mine tenement area in compliance with a memorandum dated June 11, 2020.
The bamboo plantation has 25,627 planted cuttings of bayog (Dendrocalamus merrillianus), giant bamboo (Dendrocalamus asper), kawayan-kiling (Bambusa vulgaris), kawayang-tinik (Bambusa blumeana) and buho (Schizostachyum lumampao).
FCF has donated more than 20,000 bamboo cuttings to different stakeholders within the provinces of Nueva Vizcaya, Isabela, Quirino and Cagayan.
Harvey identified environmental management as their “main priority in improving day-to-day operations [and] bolstering our long-term strategic direction.”