From left: Matthieu Delouvrier, head of international development at aDryada; Pierre Forestier, head of investment and ESG at aDryada; Ruben Picardo, president of Samar Bamboo Corp.; DENR Secretary Juan Miguel Cuna; and DENR Undersecretary Ernesto Adobo sign the memorandum of agreement for the Green Samar Project, a long-term forest restoration initiative covering degraded areas within Samar Island Natural Park. Photo courtesy of DENR.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and aDryada signed a long-term agreement for the Green Samar Project, one of the country’s largest nature restoration initiatives.
The memorandum of agreement was signed in Manila on June 23 with Samar Bamboo Corporation as project partner and Audax Global as project convenor and strategic partner.
Audax Global was represented by Allana Montelibano, Atty. Karen Jimeno, and Chief Executive Officer Jeremy Knight.
The Green Samar Project aims to restore 120,000 hectares of degraded rainforest within Samar Island Natural Park while improving conservation work and supporting communities living inside the protected area.
Samar Island Natural Park spans about 335,000 hectares and is considered the largest terrestrial protected area in the Philippines.
The park is also a candidate UNESCO World Heritage Site and is home to the Philippine Eagle, one of the rarest eagles in the world.
Under the agreement, the project will run for an initial 25 years, with an option to extend for another 25 years.
The restoration work will involve direct planting of native tree species, assisted natural regeneration, and enrichment planting in degraded areas of the park.
From left: Assistant Director of DENR FMB Atty. Ray Thomas Kabigting; Pierre Forestier, head of investment and ESG at aDryada; Allana Montelibano of Audax Global
“The real mandate of the Department of Environment [and Natural Resources] is to do the real flood control, which is to plant trees although we don’t have the funds to plant 120,000 hectares of degraded forest . So it has a very good impact to the environment, to the people, especially Samar is one of the poorest here in the country na laging binabagyo,” Montelibano emphasized.
She pointed the importance of this project in creating livelihoods for the people living in communities within the park as the project is also expected to create 800 to 1,000 jobs during its first seven years and improve the living conditions of more than 20,000 people.
“There’s actually a very rigorous reporting system dito po sa ating MOA because not only on the side of the DENR will do the monitoring. But isa rin po riyan ay ‘yung kanilang validator or iyong third party na auditor na magbibigay ng carbon credits nila,” Assistant Dir. of Forest Management Bureau Tom Kabigting said, assuring the accountability of the program.
“Green Samar is an important demonstration of how the Philippines’ environmental and regulatory frameworks can support ambitious, long-term restoration initiatives in protected areas,” DENR Undersecretary Ernesto Adobo added.
Meanwhile, adryada CEO Fabio Ferrari emphasized that nature should be treated as critical infrastructure, requiring the same level of strategic management, discipline, and long-term planning as other essential assets. The project is being developed in collaboration with technical partners Terraformation, ERM, and Conserve Int.