ELTI in Forest Day 6

Forest Day is a global forest event held annually on the sidelines of the UNFCCC Conference of Parties meetings and hosted by the Collaborative Partnership on Forests under the leadership of the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR). It brings together forestry experts and

ELTI Supports the National Greening Program

The Environmental Leadership and Training Initiative (ELTI), together with the Institute of Tropical Ecology and Environmental Management of the Visayas State University (ITEEM-VSU) and the rest of the Rain Forest Restoration Initiative (RFRI), have developed a series of trainings on

The National Greening Program Just Got Greener

On February 24, 2011, the president of the Philippines, Benigno S. Aquino, issued Executive Order No. 26, launching the National Greening Program (NGP). The program involves the planting of 1.5 billion trees in 1.5 million hectares of public domain lands from 2011 to 2016. It is the latest

Phenology to Promote Environmental Values among Youth

A phenological study requires patience and observation skills, scientific rigor to record accurate data, and lots of perseverance. Not exactly the task for a child, one would think; but ELTI leaders Adriana and Julián Giraldo think different, and for a reason. A few years ago, when they were still

ELTI Leader: Eufracio Maratas

Name: Eufracio "Dodong" Maratas Jr.
Organization: Municipality of Pilar, Camotes, Cebu, Philippines
Position: Vice Mayor
ELTI Event: Rainforestation National Trainer’s Training, April 2009, Leyte, Philippines

Symposium on Restoring Coal Mines in Indonesia

The province of East Kalimantan, Indonesia is one of the country’s largest producers and suppliers of coal. Vast tracts of lands have been degraded due to this economically important, yet environmentally and socially–damaging activity. Regulations that govern the rehabilitation of

Rene Vendiola Wins Prestigious Award!

We are thrilled to announce that on March 22, 2012, Mr. Rene “Nong Ite” Vendiola won the prestigious Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. (RAFI) Award in the Exemplary Individual category for his work on Rainforestation in Negros Oriental, Philippines. Rene was selected among 300

Visit to Más Bosques para Medellín Project

During a recent trip to Colombia, ELTI alumn Jaddy Toro guided ELTI staff on visit to the Más Bosques para Medellín project. As we visited different sites, she explained how she is now applying concepts learned in the ELTI-CIPAV course to improve plantation designs, favor

Inventory of Native Trees in Caquetá, Colombia

ELTI leaders, Oscar Tafur and Edwin Hurtado, recently launched their project to conduct a floristic inventory of native trees in Caquetá, Colombia, located at the transition between the Andean foothills and the Amazon region. Over the next 10 months they will focus on identifying native

Rain Forest Restoration Initiative Seminar Series: Green Mondays

The Rain Forest Restoration Initiative (RFRI) is a network of non-government organizations, governmental institutions, and universities working together to promote the use of native tree species for forest restoration and other land-use management objectives in the Philippines. The

Workshop on Reforestation with Native Trees Species in Singapore

After clearing most of its native vegetation in 19th century, Singapore is now taking progressive steps toward conserving its remaining forests and expanding tree cover across the island. In its effort to become “a city in a garden”, in contrast with the more common approach of having

ELTI supports conference on Landscape-Scale Restoration

On January 26-28, the Yale Student Chapter of the International Society of Tropical Foresters held their 18th annual conference at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies in New Haven, Connecticut. The conference, titled Strategies for Landscape-Scale Restoration in the

Sustainability Strategies for Connectivity Corridors

Cattle-ranching is not only an economic activity, but a way of life. Most traditional cattle-ranchers will balk at the idea of growing trees or shrubs on their pastures and taking space away from planting improved varieties of grass. This tends to be a “cultural norm” of the industry, and the

Forest Restoration Conference in Indonesia

Indonesia has tens of millions of hectares of degraded land resulting from unsustainable land-use practices including logging, agricultural conversion, mining, infrastructure development, and fires. As a consequence, vast areas have experienced the loss of biological diversity and

Local Farmers Associations in Panama’s Azuero Peninsula Launch Silvopastoral Projects

The Azuero Peninsula in southwestern Panama has a long history of colonization, particularly in the low-lying areas on the eastern flank of the peninsula, also known as the “dry arc” (Arco Seco). What once used to be tropical dry forest, has now been converted to vast expanses of agricultural

First Workshop on Connectivity Corridors in Cattle Ranching Landscapes in Colombia – May 2011

Traditional cattle ranching is one of the primary drivers of forest and biodiversity loss in the tropics. In Latin America alone, there are more than 500 million hectares of degraded lands as a result of poor agricultural and cattle-ranching practices, which are also major sources of