The Philippine government declared that the bill was intended to promote environmental protection, biodiversity, climate change mitigation, poverty reduction and food security. In line with this, the education system should propagate the ethical and sustainable use of natural resources among the young in order to ensure the cultivation of socially responsible and conscious citizens. Somewhat prophetically, the bill also said that the trees would serve as a living legacy to both the environment and future generations of Filipinos.
Why is the bill pure genius? Because the government has actually teamed up with it's own citizens in a way that solves one big problem simply, at low cost, with wide dissemination and maximum involvement. At the same time, it has created an ongoing recognition and reward system to reinforce good behaviour. Kids also influence parents and you can see how the multiplier really has some potential to take off.
With graduating children alone, over the course of one generation the bill will be responsible for 525 billion trees planted. This comes from over 12 million students graduating from elementary school each year, 5 million from high school and 500,000 from college, equalling 175 million new trees planted each year. Even with attrition, that's a lot of trees. In a country who's forest area dropped from 705 to 20% over 50 years with logging, the focus is on planting indigenous species to match location, climate and topography.
The trees are to be planted in forestlands, mangrove areas, ancestral domains, civil and military reservations, abandoned mine sites and urban areas.