Three years ago, during the life changing Rotary Year, District 3830 piloted a REFORESTATION AND LIVELIHOOD PROGRAM for The Marikina Watershed site consisting of a total area of about 26,000 hectares covering 5 municipalities in Rizal. The Marikina Watershed is situated at the foot of the Sierra Madre Mountain Range. Because of its location, it serves as a catch basin for water cascading from the mountain to the waterways of 5 municipalities, all the way to the Pasig River, Marikina River and Laguna de Bay. Because it is situated between the mountain range and the metropolis, it protects the metropolitan areas from flooding.

Video: https://youtu.be/C8F88TI71_M?si=J04GoHU8HKA8JC-m

The Watershed is also home to the Wawa Dam that has a capacity of 500 million liters of water per day,  enough to meet the water needs of 500,000 homes. During the infamous Typhoon Ondoy when Metro Manila was inundated and ravaged by the water from the boondocks of Rodriguez Rizal, we suddenly understood the critical importance of the trees, many of which were chopped off and sold as coal by the dwellers. The trees which nature provided to hold the water in the ground were not enough.

And so our District initiated a reforestation program participated in by 31 Rotary Clubs, which pooled their allocated District Grants to underwrite the project. It was a partnership with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the Philippine Bamboo Foundation, Inc. (PBFI) and the Samahang Kawayan Ng Karugo Agri Farmers Association (SKKAFAI). 

Pursuant to the Memorandum of agreement signed by the partners last February 16, 2022, District 3830 and its 31 participating clubs funded the reforestation project and its accompanying livelihood component in the amount of P 1.5 million. The DENR provided the 20-hectare project site while the Philippine Bamboo Foundation provided technological and technical support to the project. The farmers’ association, on the other hand, under the strict supervision and monitoring of our team, was responsible for the implementation of the project, while rendering subsequent care and maintenance of the plantation until its maturity a 5-year commitment.

The Reforestation Project involved the planting of 4,100 bamboo on the 20-hectare project site in Brgy. Karugo, San Rafael, Rizal as identified and provided by the DENR. The Reforestation was undertaken in two phases: Phase 1 - Nursery Phase and Phase 2-Replanting to the denuded sites.  The Reforestation Project is a multi-year legacy project for the Life-Changing Team who have committed to seeing this project through under the able chairmanship of PP Emil Castro of the Rotary Club of Makati Buendia. 

Our project was awarded by the DENR last year as an outstanding private-public project in terms of its ability to actually monitor and sustain the bamboo’s life through the supervision of our Project monitoring team led by then Life-Changing Presidents Soc Catud of Las Pinas Rotary Club and Carlo Jose "CJ" David. They oversee the regular counting and replanting of our 1400 bamboo plants in the sites through their regular site visits. We know how many of them are alive, how many need to be weeded or fertilized, how many were lost, which we then replace.

Our vision was to be able to entice funders to adopt the rest of the denuded areas. This dream has taken root.

A second project was financed and commenced last June 24, 2024 to plant bamboo in another 25 hectares designated by the DENR. The Rotary club of Makati Dasmarinas joined in a second program. Another MOU was signed between the Rotary Club of Makati F. Zobel and the farmers' association, the Samahang Kawayan ng Karugo Agri-Farmers Association, led by its president, Mr. Edgar Mariano.

The team has rolled out the second reforestation and livelihood project, a P2 Million grant, to plant over 400 bamboo in the Marikina Watershed and create livelihood opportunities for our people's organization, the SKKAFA, through the partnership with the Provincial Environment & Natural Resources Team headed by PENRO- Rizal Ramil Limpiada.