In a large-scale environmental effort, around 4,500 participants from 50 institutions planted approximately 20,000 bamboo plants across various regions of the Philippines, primarily in Mindanao, on Friday. This initiative was an attempt to set a Guinness World Record for the “Most People Planting Bamboo Simultaneously.”
The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) spearheaded the event, called KAWAYANIHAN, in collaboration with multiple agencies. This initiative promotes bamboo as a sustainable resource for climate resilience, carbon sequestration, flood control, and the production of high-value products.
The bamboo planting sites spanned several provinces, including Misamis Oriental, Bukidnon, Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, Agusan del Norte, and Leyte. To ensure proper monitoring, each bamboo was geotagged and logged into a Bamboo Resource Inventory System developed by the Bamboo Niche R&D Center at Central Mindanao University.
DOST aims to strengthen the bamboo industry through future collaborations, aligning efforts with the Philippine Bamboo Industry Roadmap, focusing on processing, value-adding, and marketing strategies.