Green Releaf Initiative in the Philippines supports recovering communities, especially displaced people from typhoons, teaching people how to become more resilient against future disasters. They are working on changing the narrative of DRR or Disaster Risk Reduction into Designing for Resilience and Regeneration.
In 2019, the Global Peace Index referred to the Philippines as “the most vulnerable country in the world facing multiple climate hazards”. The Philippines faces an average of 20 typhoons a year, on top of historical conflict and other natural hazards like volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. Green Releaf have prototyped two initiatives and emergent long-term programs that used permaculture as a recovery and prevention approach for disasters and displacement.
Indigenous Food Systems and TEK
This year Green Releaf started soft scaling their work with indigenous peoples in Kalinga by supporting the Yuta Project of Filip+Inna, a clothing line with indigenous artisans. With the T’boli of Lake Sebu, they have been training artisan families in demonstrating a forest garden system that promotes traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and local biodiversity for food sovereignty.
Emergency Garden Guides
With support from Re-Alliance, Permaculture, and Global Giving, they integrated their learnings on permaculture gardening with IDPs in camps and resettlements and developed the first draft of our Emergency Garden guides. They also just completed the testing phase with thanks to their partners Sarayo Forests and the Diocese of Legazpi and their partner farmers in the typhoon belt.
Green Releaf plans to scale and replicate these initiatives they’ve started with new partners and communities while also completing what they started from delays with Covid-19 and new disasters earlier this year.
As we share this news from Green Releaf, category 5 Supertyphoon Rai/ Odette passed through the Philippines on 16 December 2021. They would like to you to help them support those in the frontlines responding with regenerative solutions in the days and months to come by joining their gifting circle to generate emergency funds for emergent and future regenerative aid recovery efforts. Click here to gift.
Read the full story of Green Releaf by Sarah Queblatin (co-founder and Executive Director of Green Releaf) for the Permaculture Magazine here.
Author: Sarah Queblatin