TALISAY CITY, Cebu, Philippines — To celebrate environment month in June, the Region 7 office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR7) will launch government’s National Greening Program (NGP) whose objective is to plant and grow as much as 2.816 million seedlings of agroforestry, native and indigenous species in Central Visayas.

DENR7 Regional Executive Director Maximo O. Dichoso said the NGP in the region, which will cover as much as 5,632 hectares, will be launched June 25 along with the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. (RAFI), Metro Cebu Water District (MCWD) and other pertinent national government agencies.

Dichoso had earlier called on the support of both the private sector and other non-government organizations (NGOs) in implementing the NGP which is aimed at reviving the country’s forest reserves.

Meanwhile, the DENR7 has set a series of activities for the month-long celebration of environment month with the theme, “Forests: Nature at your service.”

Dichoso said the theme captures the importance of forests as they cover a third of earth’s total land mass, performing vital functions which render the planet alive with possibilities.

He added that the celebration is also in consonance with the United Nations’ declaration of the International Year of Forests, with the theme, “Forests for People,” per Proclamation No. 125, declaring 2011 as the National Year of Forests in the Philippines.

Last June 1, DENR7 kicked off its celebration with “Linis Opisina,” a wholeday cleanup activity followed by a two-day Orientation on Residential Free Patent or RA 10023.

A video documentation of DENR7’s success stories were also held last June 8 to 13 in Nug-as, Alcoy, Apo Island in Negros Oriental and Siquijor.

Other scheduled activities will include government vehicles emission testing on Wednesday, June 15 and June 16 along with the holding of the Focused-Group activity on the designation of Cebu’s Butuanon River as a Water Quality Management Area.