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Feb 2016
Mangroves provide ecosystem services that are valued from $14,166 to $16,142 per hectare per year. These services include raw materials and food, coastal protection, erosion control, maintenance of fisheries and carbon sequestration. The present mangroves to ponds ratio is 1:1 lower than the ideal 4:1 ratio because of the massive mangrove conversion in the country. There is a need for mangrove rehabilitation. However, though massive mangroves planting are being conducted, it is being done in the wrong sites (seafront planting) and wrong species (Rhizophora spp.) is being used. Mangrove planting should not......
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The ECHO-store Concept
Every consumer needs to know the source of their food to make sure that the food they eat is safe and nutritious. Better yet is for us to produce our own food. Adherent to the principles of slow food movement, which is to promote the production and eating of good food – food that is tasty; clean food which is free from pesticides and other harmful chemicals; and fair food both for the producer...
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Safe Food Manufacturing
I am not sure if you will agree with me that manufacturing might be a broad label for the food production realm or the industry of food production. The word manufacturing evokes factories and mass production every single time. It might not be that, because cottage industries also involve some level of manufacture. So I’d like to propose that we talk about production instead of manufacturing. That is closer to the ideals of small-scale,...
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Organic Agriculture Program of Negros Occidental
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, organic agriculture is an effective strategy for mitigating climate change by building robust soils that are better adapted to extreme weather conditions associated with climate change. The Organic Agriculture Program in Negros Occidental started with the Public- Private Initiative in Organic Agriculture which established the organic vegetable farm in the rear of Capitol Building in 2005 and the 15 pilot organic villages. The...
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Organic Agriculture
Organic agriculture promotes an ecologically sound, socially acceptable and economically viable and technically feasible production of food. This is through the reduction of external inputs by avoiding the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and pharmaceuticals, while enhancing productivity without destroying the soil and harming farmers, consumers and the environment. The elements of organic crop production include soil management, crop management or multiple cropping, seeds and planting materials and pest management. Soil management involves composting,...
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Province-wide Zero Waste Campaign
“It is high time for human beings to take the right action towards saving the earth.” This was how Gov. Padilla ended her talk where she shared why and how they implemented a province-wide zero waste campaign. With the aims to maximally increase the capacity of all the 275 target barangays in the 15 municipalities of Nueva Vizcaya and to enable Nueva Vizcaya to be the first province to attain compliance to RA 9003...
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Update on Conference of Parties 21 in Paris
Distinguished guests, good afternoon to everyone. Bon jour. It is a great pleasure to be with all of you today for this 1st Philippine Environment Summit. I thank you for this opportunity that is given to me to share with you some insights about the 21st Climate Conference, also called as COP21, which took place in Paris last December. Almost a year ago, in February 2015, we started our preparation for COP 21 here...
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Sustainable Agriculture for Food Security
Somehow we neglected the fact that healthy environment is necessary for healthy people. We’ve externalized the environment as if it was something outside us. But food is what connects the earth and our bodies. When we destroy the earth, we are destroying our health. We are destroying our economies. I witnessed this over the last three (3) decades in my beloved country, India. And you are witnessing it in the Philippines. We share similar...
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Urban Gardening & Solid Waste Management
There were basically two (2) topics discussed in this session, ecological solid waste management (ESWM), a very popular and practical topic, and urban gardening (UG). Speakers in the session explained how urban gardening is related to ESWM, food security and climate change mitigation. As an added value to the discussion, they also shared the psychological impact of solid waste management and urban gardening to people. They highlighted the benefits gained from the practice of...
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Running an Organic Restaurant
The Coconut House is not just an organic restaurant but a social enterprise managed by the Philippine Coconut Society whose advocacy is for the welfare of the coconut farmers through the development and production of different healthy products that can be derived from coconuts. Being a social enterprise, the restaurant is not profit- oriented but is more on empowering the farmers by maximizing their gains. As a means of promoting the products, Coconut House...
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