Gubat, Sorsogon – Global problems such as climate change can bring opportunities.
“There’s a lot of international organizations looking at the ‘blue’ and ‘green’ economies, there’s opportunity for ecotourism and ‘blue’ finance,” ABS-CBN Lingkod Kapamilya Foundation Inc. (ALKFI) Bantay Kalikasan Program Head Joseph Alfonso T. Ascalon revealed during the Bicol Regional Climate Change Caravan (RCCC) of the Department of Education (DepEd) conducted recently in Gubat town, this province.
Ascalon explained that if we protect what we have then these institutions will fund these environmental conservation and protection projects as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) goals.
“We need students, we need the skills [of] not just educators, of local governments, of scientists…like Dr. Leah [Endonela] but [also of] technicians, students, learners—the youth who are willing to go inside the mangroves, collect data, [and] find out what they need to do to protect these areas. These are the new jobs of the future,” Ascalon asserted.
The blue economy, or the ocean economy, is a term used to describe the economic activities associated with the oceans and seas. The World Bank defines the blue economy as the “sustainable use of ocean resources to benefit economies, livelihoods and ocean ecosystem health.”
A green economy on the other hand is an economy that aims at reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities, and that aims for sustainable development without degrading the environment.
Blue finance is an emerging area in climate finance with increased interest from investors, financial institutions, and issuers globally. It offers tremendous opportunities to help safeguard access to clean water, protect underwater environments and invest in a sustainable water economy.
Ascalon revealed that will launch their next program called ‘citizen science’ that will help communities and schools become ‘citizen scientists’ that collect data as there are not enough scientists to do data collection despite the abundance of ecosystem species like mangroves, coral reefs, and seagrass.
He also announced that there is new funding from Seacology that will provide funds for sports equipment and sports events for youth in return for being able to attend mangrove learning activities in Gubat. Seacology is a nonprofit charitable organization headquartered in Berkeley, California, that works to preserve island ecosystems and cultures around the world.
“The RCCC is a showcase of Mangrove Environmental Education partnership of DepEd Sorsogon Province and ABS-CBN Lingkod Kapamilya Foundation, Inc. (ALKFI),” Schools Division Superintendent William Gando revealed.
In a regional memorandum, Bicol Regional Director Gilbert Sadsad stated that the purpose of the activity is to highlight the role of DepEd in integrating in its plans, programs, policies and activities the concepts of climate change through mangrove environmental education and initiate and coordinate cooperation and collaborative activities.
DepEd Sorsogon Province and ALKFI had a partnership on Mangrove Environmental Education Phase II since 2022 that benefitted teachers and learners in Gubat which ended last March 2023.
“Due to the initial gains of Phase II that need to be sustained, the DepEd Sorsogon Province and ALKFI inked the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for the implementation of Phase III during the RCCC on October 10, 2023,” Gando said.
The Phase III will start on October 12-14 with its first Eco-Camp for 32 teachers from 13 schools of Gubat. The teachers will be participating in a mangrove appreciation program to develop localized mangrove educational learning materials for the next six months with the help of Dr. Leah Endonela, a faculty of University of the Philippines (UP) Los Baños under Crop Breeding and Genetic Resources Division of the Institute of Crop Science, College of Agriculture and Food Science.
(Source: DepEd Region V Bicol)