Didipio Project Environmentally Yours: Didipio Project Environmentally Yours: Oceanagold Joins the World in Celebrating Earth Day 2008

Oceanagold Joins the World in Celebrating Earth Day 2008 - By: Oceanagold's Chester James de Leon

It was in the year 1970 when the former United States senator Gaylord Nelson founded a modern environmental movement, “EARTH DAY”. Since the early stage of Earth Day, the idea was to force the issue of environment protection into the attention of officials by inspiring them to address the problems of rapid environmental degradation. This movement, which is celebrated every 22nd of April, continued up to the present and this time it was observed by approximately 175 countries around the world, including the Philippines. It is being coordinated by the nonprofit Earth Day Network who revealed that the celebration is presently the most celebrated holiday in the world, supported by over half billion individuals annually.

The Earth Day theme for 2008, “A Call for Climate,” focuses on the importance of addressing global warming. It persuades politicians around the world to create laws and regulations that control and stop activities that contribute to global warming, and to encourage projects that uplift the present environmental condition.

Being a mining company that realizes and prioritizes the importance of mitigating the environmental impacts of our operations, we have shown our commitment in preserving and protecting the earth through our mitigating measures and projects. We also make sure that in whatever ways we can, we support all international and national environmental celebrations and movements, which include Earth Day.

OceanaGold’s Sustainability Department which is managed by Lucy Exconde chose transplanting of balled trees as the main activity of the company during the Earth Day 2008 celebration. The activity was chosen to promote forest protection and reforestation since woodlands act as natural “heat sinks” which reduce the effects of global warming to the earth. OceanaGold is aware that every year, the area covered by forest in the Philippines is continuously declining, which is why the Company is committed to preserving and increasing the vegetation within the project vicinity.

The balled trees are salvaged from the proposed accommodation site of OceanaGold before the actual development of the said area, showing one of the company’s environmental ideals – “every tree counts”. Tree balling involves manual or mechanical digging of a tree with its root system and soil, called root ball, still intact.

Species which were balled from the accommodation area include fruit trees (pomelo, mango) and fast growing species (narra, mahogany, and melina). The transplanting activity was participated by majority of our employees and managers headed by General Manager Jake Foronda. Contractors and subcontractors of the company have also shown their support through their involvement in the transplanting activity.