IN A bid to make the country greener, Senator Loren Legarda filed a measure that will mandate public schools to plant trees and adopt forest sanctuaries.

Legarda said the Philippines is among the most vulnerable countries that could feel the consequences of climate change. These consequences include the increase in frequency and severity of droughts, fires, floods and storms, damage to ecosystems and biodiversity loss.

Senate Bill 491 seeks to empower the youth as effective catalysts for change, as well as the academe as the medium to disseminate information, as they adopt or create forest sanctuaries or gardens in urban areas as well as in the countryside.

“With more than 20 million students in the public school sector planting trees the whole year round, the country’s forests can surely be revived in the shortest time possible,” Legarda said in her explanatory note.

“More than the actual number of trees we plant, what is more important is to instill in the minds of present and future generations that we must save the environment while there is still time,” she added.

Legarda said local communities should pursue green growth to help prevent and reduce the adverse impacts of climate change.