Nursing Ayungon’s forests back to

health
The municipality of Ayungon is the rice bowl of Central Negros, a peaceful community
of healthy and God-fearing people who live in a sustainably managed and ecologically
balanced environment. Located on the midriff of Oriental Negros’s northern stretch and
approximately two hours away from Dumaguete City, Ayungon is home to a 9.4-hectare
tree nursery, the biggest in the Philippines.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources

(DENR), under its National Greening Program, has established the Mechanization and
Modernization of Forest Nursery (MMFN) as one of its strategies to attain the goal of
planting 1.5 billion trees covering about 1.5 million hectares for a period of six years,
from 2011 to 2016, as stipulated in Executive Order 26.

The five pilot sites are in Bicutan, Taguig City (National Capital Region); Solana, Cagayan
(Region 2); Sipocot, Camarines Sur (Region 5); Ayungon, Negros Oriental (Region 7);
and Bislig, Surigao del Sur (Region 13).

Like many places all over the country, forests in Ayungon have become denuded.
Because of the overgrowth of cogon grass—as well as the intensifying effects of global
warming—the hills of Ayungon have been rendered barren for years.
 The DENR, with the support of local
people’s organizations, and local government officials are currently in the middle of
nursin