Sustainable and Eco-Friendly Initiatives of Palawan State University

Dr. TERESITA L. SALVA President, PSU

PSU was established in

1972 and in 1994 became the first University in Region IV

• It started as a Teachers’ College with 4 borrowed classrooms, 101 students, 12 faculty members and 21 staff

37 years later, today, the University has

metamorphosed into a bustling university campus with 16 campuses, nearly 16,000 students, 46 curricular programs, 530 faculty, and 442 staff members.

• The main campus rises majestically in a 2o-hectare area above Puerto Princesa City Bay where 7 colleges are located

Another campus is located at the heart of the City where the School of Law, the Graduate School and the laboratory elementary school are housed.

To expand access of Palawenos to quality education, PSU established the College of Community Resources Development (CCRD) through the support of LGUs and the parents in 14 municipalities of the Province.

As PSU grew and expanded, so were the problems that

were part of development. In the 80’s, Palawan got to a point where it became like

any other Province we knew…

Environmental degradation was rampant

Forests were cleared at an alarming rate

Destruction of coastal areas was killing the life of the sea and the livelihood of the people

Pollution dramatically increased, affecting the ecosystems of the island

The environment was in obvious

danger; there was an urgent need to save Palawan from being just

another Province whose resources and environment had been

depleted and polluted.

It was time something was done for Palawan to restore it to the paradise that it was and now, is.

The people and the government came together for the great undertaking that made the landmark legislation for Palawan, the “Strategic Environmental

Plan (SEP) for Palawan Act of 1992.

Republic Act 7611, other wise known as the SEP became the comprehensive framework for the sustainable development of Palawan, protecting and enhancing the natural resources and endangered environment.

ensuring the following features:

1. Ecological viability 2. Social acceptability 3. Integrated approach

Its philosophy is the sustainable development of Palawan , the improvement of the quality of life of its present and future generations

..... through ways that are complementary of development and conservation that protect life-support ecosystems and rehabilitation of exploited areas

• The landmark legislation of the SEP was further supported by the enactment of RA 8371, otherwise known as the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act of 1997.

The Act recognizes,

protects and promotes the rights of Indigenous People and Indigenous Cultural Communities, the rightful owners of

many forests and ancestral domains

....restoring the beauty of the

country’s largest province of 1.5

million hectares.

Where its 1,768 islands

and islets promise an

adventure and a true

romance with nature

In a place like paradise with

one of the most diverse and preserved

ecosystems in the country.

Restoring the rich natural

resources of the Province that was

once unknown and forgotten but now the country’s last

ecological frontier .

...the Province

which UNESCO

declared as Man and Biosphere Reserve....

….the paradise

island which is

rich in mineral resources and abundant in

natural gas

deposits….

PSU became a partner, an ally and an arm in

the concerted effort to restore Palawan’s natural environment and its people’s development

Among them......

1. Forging linkages with local, national and international institutions

On research and development (continuing resource assessment and inventory, researches on mitigating climate change and )

On advocacy (tapping and partnering with NGOs, POs on issues related to sustainable mining and development)

assessment and utilization, training and skills development On Info Sharing and knowledge building Research collaboration and dissemination of research results; translation of scientific findings in usable form

…finding meaning and sense through the PSU VISION of

World-class Knowledge Center in Palawan for Community

Empowerment towards Sustainable Development

With development cutting across SOCIETY (PEOPLE), HEALTH, ENVIRONMENT, ECONOMY, and CULTURE.

2. Initiating Environment-Friendly Programs,

Projects and Activities like:

• Energy Conservation

• Water Conservation

• Waste Recovery and Zero Plastic Advocacy

• Bio-fencing

• Coastal Clean-up

3. Innovating on strategies that are

community-based and participatory

•Climber – PORADISE

•Aerobic Rice Farming

•Rubber Nursery

• Community-based Seaweeds Farming

4. Creating mechanisms/opportunities that support sustainable livelihood and

ecosystems management within the framework of good governance

–Center for Strategic Policy and Governance

–Knowledge for Development Center

–Center for Environmental Awareness Education

Integrating these partnerships, projects, practices and activities into the fabric of life in the University......defining actions, influencing behaviors and creating impact on instruction,

research , extension priorities and income generating activities

Energy Conservation

• Regulated use of air-conditioning units in all offices and classrooms in the university;

• Use of energy-efficient electric fans, energy-saver bulbs and lamps;

• Advocacy for natural ventilation as a green option;

• Use of Solar panels as natural energy source

• Centralized on-line printing and printer- sharing network

• Use of paperless technology in meetings and assemblies

• Monitoring and rationalizing the use of University vehicles

Water Conservation Initiatives • Use of water-efficient lavatories and water tanks

• Setting up of underground rain/water catchers

• Water consumption and conservation monitoring

• Setting up of waste water treatment facility within the campus

• Campus facilities maintenance network

Waste Recovery and Zero Plastic Advocacy

• Strict implementation of RA 9003 with special focus on the three “R’s” (reduce, reuse, recycle)

• Installation of college-based Material Recovery Facilities (MRF)

• Deputization of faculty, staff and students to enforce the Anti-Littering policy in partnership with Puerto Princesa City government .

• Composting of agricultural waste to produce organic fertilizers

• Strong advocacy against smoking inside the school buildings

• Regulation of entry of vehicles through the issuance of gate pass to reduce carbon monoxide emission in the campus

• Advocacy for zero plastic use in the campus – in canteens, stores

Bioengineering technique in slope-area Rehabilitation

The project has showcased the use of bio-engineering technique in slope stabilization and rehabilitation while keeping the area the habitat for birds, flowers and other vegetation

Bio-Fencing Initiative

Bio-fencing is perimeter

fencing using indigenous trees and flowering shrubs in order to safeguard the university against human encroachment and stray animals, while controlling sediment flow, providing habitat for wildlife and creating a riotous of colors and abundant foliage for healthy and beautiful surroundings…..

Bio-Fencing

…..attracting support

and generating cooperation from the DENR, local government units, mining firms and the collective involvement of more than 3,000 students during the planting of

the trees….

Engaging officials and leaders…..

…teachers and stakeholders to achieve a dark green university campus in the City and in 14 sites

throughout Palawan….

Date

Campus

Type of Plants (95% living) Total

Bougainvillea Indigenous Trees

Jul-07 Main Campus 1,188 1,068 2,256

Aug-08 Main Campus 100 300 400

Sep-08 PSU- Quezon 285 430 715

Oct-08 PSU- Narra 100 100 200

Jan-09 to

March-09 Main Campus 775 284 1,059

Total 2,448 2,182 4,630

Biodiversity Conservation initiatives through IEC activities in campuses

and in communities through student assemblies/seminars/volunteer service and opening the campus

nature watch enthusiasts

…….through research and learning teams that enrich school experience and equip learners with life-skills to cope with the increasing challenges of bio-conservation and sustainable development…

Through pocket slices of what Palawan has......right inside PSU

Flora Diversity Garden - a 3- hectare area with a diverse plant family (67) and plant species (650) serving as a laboratory for students and providing a haven for those who wish to commune with nature.

Butterfly Garden – a haven to butterflies and food plants of various colors and flowers

Orchidarium – a house for various species of indigenous and Philippine orchid varieties

…..enriching the collection of more than 15,000 specimens from a large collection of 3,500 plants species that belong to 97 plant families preserved in the PSU Herbarium.

PSU observed that efforts to ameliorate

the environment are often viewed as

distinct and separate from the day-to-day

living of the people in the affected areas.

To address this, CLIMBER (Continuing

Livelihood Intervention with Mountain-Based

Ecological Rehabilitation) was launched, using

a strategy that uses Learning in Agricultural

Projects (LEAP) through PORADISE (Palm Oil,

Rubber, and Abaca Development as Industries)

The Project strategy

ensures that

residents who

participate in the

training are able to

apply their new

knowledge in

starting their own

rubber and abaca

farms

has already established LEAPs, covering 70 hectares of rubber famrs with abaca intercrops and 4 hectares of high value fruit trees

Today, CLIMBER focused on

PORADISE

…….budwood gardens with 5,000

plants now the source of bud sticks for

budding in the project nurseries

…where rubber plant seedlings totaling 90,000 are ready for budding; 100,000 of abaca plants and 2,000 indigenous fruit and forest tree species are ready for transport and planting

– Development Bank of the Philippines = 4.7 million for a DBP forest

– Commission on Higher Education = 1.5 million for rubber and abaca nurseries

– Department of Agriculture through the Accelerated Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (ACEF) = 10.27 million for abaca processing & marketing facilities

– Fiber Industry Development Authority = 1 million for abaca nurseries

…utilizing in full a cumulative PhP17.47

budget support from the:

Oriented 3,000 farmers on rubber and oil palm farming such that the program must have helped catalyzed the planting in Palawan of 300 hectares to rubber and 3,500 ha to oil palm to date

Already initiated enriching 50 ha of forest, and establishing other trainees’ projects as their livelihood means and as productive rehabilitation approach for 200 ha of degraded hilly lands

Employing seminars and training as strategies for theoretical inputs, providing opportunities for

knowledge sharing to : Year Number of Participants

2006 322

2008 939

2009 302

Total 1563

Making PORADISE into what it is Today

With about 40,000 (site 1 = 20,000; site 2 = 20,000) rubber seedlings ready for planting;

About 3,500 budded rubber plants are ready for harvesting for use as bud sticks

– Site 1 = 2,500

– Site 2 = 1,000

With suckers and corms produced at the 2 sites…. – Site 1 - 30,000 suckers and corms

planted in 50 ha. of abaca intercropped with rubber; 15,000 suckers and corms planted by PSU CLIMBER Participants; and 20,000 suckers and corms ready for dispersal to CLIMBER participants

– Site 2 - 10,000 suckers and corms are ready for dispersal to CLIMBER participants

Where out of the 167 participants, 15 farmers have already established rubber farms with intercropping of abaca in a one hectare lot each

With 50 participants expected to establish their farms within 2009

With Rubber Nurseries in 2 sites in Palawan (North and South)…

– Developing a total of approximately 22 hectares located in Barangay Maasin, Brooke’s Point, Palawan (10 hectares) and in Bgy. Tagabinet, Puerto Princesa City (12 hectares)

• Presently providing work to at least 300 laborers, mostly indigenous people, about half of which are living within the buffer zone of the World Heritage Site of the PP National Underground River Park, also the Philippines’ pride in the final search of the World’s New 7 Wonders of Nature

• To produce 10,000,000 poly-bagged rubber seedlings to be planted in 20,000 hectares rubber plantations in Province of Palawan which promise to generate annual income of Ph 2.0 billion and creating approximately 40,000 jobs within the next 4 years while rehabilitating and reforesting an estimated 20,000 hectares of deforested areas.

PSU applied the Aerobic Rice Farming

Technology in helping farmers adopt the eco-friendly cropping system

that uses drought-resistant rice varieties in water-scarce areas using lesser fertilizer, insecticide and herbicide

Harvested last March, 2008

Benefiting 365 farmers from 7 municipalities of Palawan through

seminar/training and workshop Location Number of Participants Number of Farmers

Adopted the Technology

Puerto Princesa City 124 7

Municipality of Bataraza 96 18

Municipality of Quezon 47 227

Municipality of Narra 270 102

Municipality of Roxas 53 2

Municipality of Brookes Point

- 2

Municipality of Cuyo - 7

Total 590 365

The Center for Strategic Policy and Governance was established by PSU as a specialized Center as part of the

mechanisms through which the university shall engage in high quality research, policy studies, technical assistance and

consultancy in PROJECTS and in PARTNERSHIP with local, national and

international bodies on climate change mitigation, biodiversity protection and conservation, influencing policy decisions and actions in Puerto Princesa City, in Palawan and, hopefully, in

the country.

CSPG has been in a number of Eco-friendly Initiatives…. MERF South China Sea Project – Reversing Environmental Degradation Trends at the South China Sea and the Gulf of Thailand (Palawan/Calamianes Components)

KKP TRNMP Project – Sustainable Financing Component of the Conservation of the Tubbataha Reef National Marine Park and World Heritage Site Project

WWF-Live Fish Project – A Study to Harmonize Policies, Laws and Regulations Concerning the Use of Cyanide in the Live-Reef Fish Industry in Palawan

Fish Wars Project (Philippine Component) – Fish Wars: Conflict and Collaboration in Fisheries Management in Southeast Asia

Mantalingahan Project – Landscape and Seascape Assessment of Selected Catchments in the Western Side of Mount Mantalingahan Range, Southern Palawan

CI-Coron/Tubbataha Project – Development of Monitoring and Evaluation Program for Two Marine Protected Areas in Palawan, Philippines

Berong Monitoring – Berong Environmental Monitoring (Coral Reefs and Seagrasses)

SocMon 1 Project – Socioeconomic Monitoring – Southeast Asia Training Course

Forest Turtle Project – Inventory, Distribution, State and Conservation Action of the Critically Endangered Philippine Forest Turtle (Heosemys leytensis), Palawan, Philippines MMAs Project – Marine Managed Areas (MMAs) Ecological, Socioeconomic and Governance Effectiveness Balabac Project – Towards Improving Marine Biodiversity and Sustaining the Coastal Resources in the Balabac Strait Corridor

UNDP-IP Project – Enhancing Participation of Indigenous People in Natural Resource Management and Biodiversity Conservation in Puerto Princesa City and Quezon, Palawan

UNDP-Seaweeds Project – Capacity 2015 Program: Building Capacities of Communities for Environmentally Sustainable Globalization

Other CSPG Eco-Friendly Projects

MPA Calamianes Project – Enhancing MPA Management Effectiveness for the Calamianes Islands MPA Network, Palawan Province, Philippines

Berong 2 Monitoring – Berong 2 Environmental Monitoring (Coral Reefs and Seagrasses)

FPE Project – Rapid Site Assessment of Cluster Luzon: Honda Bay and Green Island Bays

Not one to rest on its laurels, PSU has sustained its initiatives to do better than its last, thus,

it became a Knowledge for Development Center

established by World Bank in Partnership with Universities

and institutions around the Country

PSU Knowledge for Development Center Launching in August 2005 with Palawan Leaders and Former World Bank

Country Director (at the right most side) and other World Bank Officers

Strengthening PSU’s commitment on promoting sustainable development and good governance, sealed in a hand shake

between the PSU President Dr. Teresita L. Salva and the new World Bank Country Director Mr. Bert Hofman at Richmonde Hotel in July

2009

..by focusing on:

• Sustainable Development

• Gender and Development

• Good Governance

….carried out in the classroom and

integrated in the curriculum, PSU being the

Regional Center for Environmental Awareness and Education

• Inked through a Memorandum of Agreement with Center for Environment al Awareness and Education, an NGO based in Quezon City, Philippines

• Replicating and using the strategies of two-world renowned, multi-awarded programs: Project Learning Tree (PLT) and Project Water Education for Teachers (Project WET) as media to conduct environmental awareness and education initiatives

WE @ PSU commit to continue with the advocacy,

and despite limited resources:

We will consciously integrate environmental concerns in our actions and initiatives, fulfilling our mandate and role in Palawan’s and the Palawenos’ continuing journey in life at the Islands; Steering PSU towards its avowed vision and mission by working concertedly and collectively, through partnerships and collaboration in order to sustain Palawan’s development and safeguard the gifts that GOD has seen fit to leave in our beloved Islands and country.