The number of trees in the Panlablaba area is decreasing due to chromite mining. This activity damaging the community water system.

For this reason, Panaghiusa sa mga Higaonon sa Awang (PAHINA) conducted tree planting activity. This activity aims to bring back the forests that were destroyed due to chromite mining in the area some decades ago.

PAHINA has worked for the last two years to get to where they are now: currently there are 4,000 seedlings of lawaan, narra, chestnut tree and other local species that have been planted over the years since 2020, and they successfully completed their community water system in April 2022.

Recently, PAHINA conducted another tree planting activity on 28th of July 2022. This activity supported and joined by the Misamis Oriental Electric Service Cooperative (MORESCO), the Knights of Columbus of the St. Francis Xavier Parish, volunteers from the Agro-Ecology Desk of the Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro (CDO), JCI Cagayan de Oro (Oro Jaycees), and the Youth Apostolate (for Laudato Si) of Our Mother of Perpetual Help Parish in Barra, Opol. More than 200 seedlings were additionally planted with the eager help of the volunteer.

At the same time, they witnessed the turn-over of the community water system, a project supported by the Global Greengrants Fund, as facilitated by Samdhana Institute. So far, the project has helped the community gained access to clean water.

Rosemarie Delada, the President of the women's group Kababayen-an Sa Panlablaba (KASAP), shared how they used to bring their weekly laundry down to the river, despite the heavy load and difficult, slippery and uphill roads, and how these drained so much of their time and energy. They also could not rely on the river for drinking water since it is an open source.

Fortunately, there remains an underground water source in the nearby mountain within the domain. This water source is also in the heart of the conservation area that is being re-planted.

Samdhana facilitated the technical assessment for developing the water source and assisted KASAP and PAHINA in their planning activities to undertake the water system project. The organizations identified their policies and also set their commitment in continuing the tree-growing to ensure their water source.

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