Did you know that more than 89,000 hectares of rainforests are destroyed in the Philippines every year? Businessman Patxi Elizalde shared this astounding statistic during the recent launch of Ipanema’s Gisele Bundchen Seeds collection.

If this goes on, our rainforests will be wiped out, and along it thousands of important flora and fauna species, in 23 years, says Elizalde, whom local journalists have nicknamed “The Boy from Ipanema” (Elizalde’s company, ELRO Commercial and Industrial Corp., is the exclusive local distributor of the Brazilian flip-flops brand).

The good news is that you can help prevent the destruction of Philippine rainforests. Elizalde’s ELRO will earmark a portion of every pair of Ipanema flip-flops sold and donate this to Haribon Foundation’s Rainforestation Organizations and Advocates, or ROAD to 2020, which hopes to plant 1 million hectares of local rainforests for the next 11 years.

You can also show your support and help build awareness for the plight of our rainforests by joining Walk the Green Mile (wearing your Ipanema flip-flops, what else!), a walkathon organized by Haribon and Ipanema. The one-mile walk takes place on March 21, 2009, and will start at Le Souffle at the Fort, Taguig City. Registration opens at 4 p.m., while the walkathon will start at 5 p.m.

The first 30 people who finish the walkathon will get a free pair of GB Seeds flip-flops. The first 300 people to register for the walkathon will get a limited-edition Ipanema Gisele Bundchen baller ID while the first 100 participants to register at the venue will get a special-edition Walk the Green Mile shirt.

Ipanema will also be giving a 10 percent discount off all GB Seeds designs and will raffle off three pairs signed by supermodel and environmentalist Gisele Bundchen.

For more information on the walkathon, contact Maricel Mabalot at (+632) 753  3647/48 local 103 or e-mail cel.mabalot@elrocom.com.