FROM IDLE LAND TO AN ASEAN-RECOGNIZED FOREST

Monkayo Pag-asa Carbon Forest earns ASEAN recognition for showing how people, partnerships and native trees can bring a landscape back to life.

MONKAYO, Davao de Oro — Four years ago, this 22.4-hectare property in Barangay Banlag was largely an underused agricultural landscape. Today, more than 22,847 native tree seedlings are taking root, wildlife is returning, local families are earning livelihoods from restoration—and the young forest they helped build is now recognized across Southeast Asia.

The Monkayo Pag-asa Carbon Forest in Barangay Banlag, Monkayo, Davao de Oro, where native trees are transforming former agricultural land into a recovering forest.

The Monkayo Pag-asa Carbon Forest (MPCF) of the Philippine Eagle Foundation (PEF) was named a 2026 ASEAN Green Initiative Large-Scale awardee during the Second ASEAN Green Initiative Recognition Ceremony, held as part of the ASEAN Heritage Parks Forum 2026 at Seda Vertis North in Quezon City. Held on September 8–10 under the theme “Navigating a Sustainable Future for ASEAN Heritage Parks,” the regional forum brought together more than 400 protected-area managers, policymakers, researchers, community representatives and conservation partners from across ASEAN.

Dr. Jayson C. Ibañez, PEF's Director for Operations and Ms. Mary Grace Abundo, MPCF Site Manager, receive the 2026 ASEAN Green Initiative Large-Scale recognition for the Monkayo Pag-asa Carbon Forest during the ASEAN Heritage Parks Forum 2026.

The ASEAN Green Initiative (AGI), led by the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity, recognizes outstanding ecosystem restoration efforts across the region. Large-scale initiatives are those that have planted more than 5,000 trees, with recognition also considering ecological soundness, socioeconomic benefits, sustainability and governance.

But Monkayo’s story is about much more than counting trees.

A forest being rebuilt by people

Tree planting began in March 2022 with the goal of restoring the property toward its original lowland dipterocarp forest. More than 80 native and endemic tree species are now represented in the restoration site.

Native trees take root at MPCF as the 22.4-hectare site is restored toward a a green space at the heart of Monkayo, Davao de Oro.

The forest itself began with an act of philanthropy. In 2017, the Iloilo-based Yap family donated the property to PEF in memory of their parents after being inspired by a documentary about the Philippine Eagle. The family dedicated the land to forest and biodiversity conservation, with the understanding that it would be restored and protected rather than sold, leased or transferred.

At the center of this transformation is the Banlag Santol Kinaiyahan Workers Association (BASAKWA).

BASAKWA Chairman Jun Cumamaw leads a discussion with fellow members and representatives of TDCX, a plot adopter supporting restoration efforts at the Monkayo Pag-asa Carbon Forest.

Most BASAKWA members come from informal-settler families whose lives were shaped by displacement. Many of their families had fled mountain communities during years of insurgency and insecurity and eventually settled in the lowlands of Banlag.

Today, these same families are helping rebuild a forest.

BASAKWA members collect wildlings, raise native seedlings, haul planting materials, prepare restoration plots, plant trees, control weeds, replace mortalities and monitor survival. Some families voluntarily relocated as restoration progressed, while those who remained around the area have increasingly become partners and guardians of the property.

Members of the Banlag Santol Kinaiyahan Workers Association (BASAKWA), tend native seedlings at the MPCF nursery.

What was once a difficult story of displacement is becoming a story of green jobs, dignity, stewardship and belonging.

The forest, in turn, is beginning to respond.

PEF has already documented 45 bird species, including the Vulnerable Japanese Night Heron and the Mindanao-endemic South Philippine Dwarf Kingfisher.

The South Philippine Dwarf Kingfisher (Ceyx mindanensis) and Philippine Nightjar (Caprimulgus manillensis) are among the bird species documented at the Monkayo Pag-asa Carbon Forest, highlighting the site’s growing value as habitat for native wildlife.

One of the latest signs came from camera traps: a rarely seen Mindanao tree squirrel moving through the young restoration forest—a small but compelling sign that native wildlife is beginning to use a landscape that only a few years earlier was largely agricultural land.

The trees are no longer simply planted trees. They are becoming habitat.

Restoration as a rallying point

Dr. Jerome L. Montemayor, Executive Director of the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity, emphasized during the forum that “investing in nature is an investment in our collective future.”

“The Monkayo Pag-asa Carbon Forest demonstrates that forest restoration works when it is sustained by science, communities, government and committed partners working toward a common purpose.

We commend the Philippine Eagle Foundation for helping lead the way and for showing how restoration can become a rallying point that brings different sectors together. Initiatives like this show that restoring forests is not only about planting trees—it is about rebuilding habitats, strengthening communities and creating partnerships that can sustain conservation for generations. In a similar way, we likewise recognise the generous contribution of the Yap Family of Iloilo for the land that was used for this initiative. May it inspire other families and groups to be part of such worthwhile ecosystem restoration initiatives.”

For PEF, the recognition affirms an important lesson from nearly four decades of conservation: planting a tree begins restoration; growing a functioning forest is the real work.

“This recognition belongs to the people who stayed with the forest after planting day—BASAKWA, our field team, the LGU, DENR, our plot adopters and every partner who kept coming back. Success is not simply the number of seedlings planted. It is seeing those seedlings survive, become forest and make room for wildlife to return.” — Dennis I. Salvador, PEF Executive Director

A forest built through partnership

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Partners from Globe, Cantilan Bank, DENR, PENRO Davao de Oro, and the Municipal Government of Monkayo join the Philippine Eagle Foundation and BASAKWA in celebrating Earth Day and the 4th anniversary of the Monkayo Pag-asa Carbon Forest.

The Municipality of Monkayo strengthened the effort by declaring MPCF a Local Conservation Area, while DENR offices have provided seedlings, technical assistance and continuing institutional support.

“Monkayo shows what becomes possible when science-based restoration is matched by community stewardship and sustained partnerships. This ASEAN recognition honors not only the trees planted, but also the people who continue to nurture and protect them.” —Atty. Ma. Mercedes V. Dumagan, Regional Executive Director of DENR XI.

What began as a local commitment is now carrying Monkayo’s name across ASEAN. We are proud that this forest is protecting biodiversity while creating work, knowledge and opportunities for our people.” — Mayor Manuel Jayr N. Zamora Jr.

The project is also sustained through PEF’s plot-adoption model, which allows corporations, organizations and individuals to invest in the long-term costs of nursery production, planting, maintenance and monitoring.

Among the forest’s supporters and plot adopters is Lt. Gen. William K. Hotchkiss III (Ret.).

“When you adopt a restoration plot, you are investing in something whose greatest benefits may only be seen years from now. Seeing this land becoming a forest—and now receiving ASEAN recognition—shows why patient, long-term investment in nature matters.” — Lt. Gen. William K. Hotchkiss III (Ret.)

A Philippine restoration story joins ASEAN

MPCF shares Philippine Large-Scale recognition with Luntiang Kyusi: One Million Trees Initiative. The ALIMA Eco, Agri, and Heritage Park Development and Daang Kalikasan Native Trees Arboretum and Ecological Restoration Initiative were recognized in the Medium-Scale category.

PEF was represented during the ASEAN Heritage Parks Forum and AGI recognition activities by Director for Operations, Dr. Jayson C. Ibañez and MPCF Site Manager, Mary Grace Abundo. Dr. Ibañez also joined the regional discussion on species conservation, sharing lessons from Philippine Eagle conservation and PEF’s broader work with an ASEAN audience.

For Monkayo, however, the award is not a finish line.

Every tree that survives another dry season, every squirrel or bird that returns, every BASAKWA worker who tends a restoration plot, and every government, corporate or individual partner who stays for the long term moves the landscape closer to becoming a functioning forest.

From displacement to stewardship.

From seedlings to habitat.

From idle land to a growing forest.

From a local commitment to an ASEAN-recognized restoration story.

That is the journey of the Monkayo Pag-asa Carbon Forest.

Be part of what grows next. Support PEF’s Planting for the Future: 3 Million Trees Campaign, which aims to restore about 1,200 hectares of degraded Philippine Eagle habitat in Mindanao through native and fruit-bearing trees. Adopt a tree and follow the campaign at https://threemilliontrees.pefcarbonsink.info/.

To learn more about the Philippine Eagle Foundation and its work in Philippine Eagle research and monitoring, conservation breeding, rescue and rehabilitation, habitat restoration, community partnerships and conservation education, visit https://www.philippineeaglefoundation.org/.

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