NAIMBAG NGA ALDAW

Siklo Ti Biag

Siklo Ti Biag (Circle of Life) is a part of The Mangrove Website Project,  an academic research-based student initiative in the Philippines. It is a collaborative endeavor between the Department of Sociology and Anthropology (DSA) of the Ateneo de Manila University, the Institute of Social Order (ISO), and the community of San Fernando City, La Union steered towards promoting mangrove conservation awareness and education, community-based environmental conservation, and working at the grassroots in pursuit of defending and rehabilitating mangroves in the country.

Photography by Chris Yang, Unsplash

Nagragsak nga isasangbay yo ditoy

San Fernando, La Union

Naimbag nga aldaw!

About

This website project is an information and education campaign tackling the extensive and relevant subject of mangrove conservation that permeates global and local contexts alike. Siklo Ti Biag draws content from academic literature, organizations, and on-the-ground encounters with the locals of San Fernando. A Nexus approach frames this project, which involves the interplay between different stakeholders and their respective perceptions of and aspirations for the future of mangrove conservation. In the spirit of the Nexus, we actively engaged the various stakeholders in San Fernando to dialogue about environmental protection and management in their area.

The La Union group consists of AB Sociology students from Ateneo de Manila: Noelle Anne S. Cubacub, Kaila Mariz A. David, Daniel I. Encarnacion, Karen Claire C. Garcia, Nina An Kayla D. Resurreccion, and Adrianna Kyla M. Sevilla.

ADVOCACY

Explore our work towards environmental justice.

We dedicate Siklo Ti Biag to our partners and the local community of San Fernando in light of their efforts towards mangrove conservation and vision for a more sustainable and inclusive future of resource management in their city. Similarly, Siklo Ti Biag is in service of the Filipino community by upholding environmental justice and stewardship in this age of environmental crises caused by an incessant and regretless anthropocentric view of the world.  Siklo Ti Biag reminds us of how we have been overshooting the carrying capacity and boundary of the only planet we can call home.

First photo by
Matt Howard, Unsplash

Second photo by
Chad Madden, Unsplash

The Anthem

Mangrove and environmental conservation. As a research project committed to raising awareness about the importance of mangroves and doing mangrove conservation, we support and stand by the global and local call to protect mangroves and other environmental ecosystems.

Community-based participatory research.
We work with the local community of San Fernando, in collaboration with multiple stakeholders such as the Poro Sea Lovers’ Association (PSLA) and the San Fernando City Local Government in encouraging participatory stakeholder engagement and community-based environmental conservation and management.

Environmental conservation awareness through education. We encourage raising environmental conservation awareness at a community level through education. For instance, by interacting and collaborating with the different stakeholders in San Fernando, we participated in their endeavor to raise awareness about mangrove and wildlife conservation and protection through education and information dissemination in their local context.

Environmental interconnectedness. We envision to raise environmental conservation awareness and education through re-establishing the importance and role of mangroves in the marine environment. We promote the interconnections between mangrove ecosystems, other marine and coastal ecosystems, and animal life in maintaining a healthy ecosystem, which is beneficial to coastal communities in the form of capital, livelihood opportunities, and coastal protection.

Meet Groovy and Pawi

Groovy the Mangrove and Pawi the Pawikan are the best of friends! They live in San Fernando, La Union.

Join Groovy and Pawi as they teach us about the effects of climate change on mangroves, the role of community-based coastal resources management (CB-CRM) in coastal communities, and the importance of doing mangrove conservation in saving the marine environment at large.

Groovy

There are around 84 hectares of mangrove area in San Fernando and the community members are working together to protect this ecosystem from environmental threats such as pollution and rapid urbanization.1

Pawi

Different species of pawikan (sea turtle) have been sighted in San Fernando, particularly in Barangay Dalumpinas Oeste. While the community is already pursuing the protection of the pawikan by saving their eggs and monitoring pawikan egg hatcheries, efforts to nurse the welfare of the pawikan must be strengthened.

Get to know Pawi and Groovy!

Click the button below to read about the story of Groovy and Pawi as they take us with them to their home in the marine and coastal environments of San Fernando! Kadwaen tayo ni Pawi ken ni Groovy!

Mangrove Conservation in the Philippines

What is the status of mangrove conservation in the Philippines?

Let’s zoom in on the current state of resources and mangrove biodiversity in the country and familiarize ourselves with existing local-based efforts relevant to mangrove conservation.

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

On the ground.

Now that we know about mangroves and their fundamental environmental importance, we, then, ask: how can we involve the local community in the process of doing and conversing about mangrove conservation?

Maybe Groovy can help us! Let’s join Groovy, the Mangrove, in her Lakbay Kalikasan.

Please watch in 2160p60/4K if you can!

What else about mangroves?

The decline in and degradation of mangroves have been inflicting threats in several dimensions: from the environmental, sociocultural, political, to economic spheres. It becomes crucial, more than ever, to establish the conservation benefits and importance of these plant species and, hopefully, develop a commitment in local and global contexts towards their protection.

Not so fast!

Let’s take a short quiz and see what we’ve learned so far!

References

Notes

[1] Reported by the representative from CENRO during the FGD

ISO Workshop 2021: Coastal Resource Management and Advocacy Workshop and Introduction and ISO’s STAGE Program, used in the “Community-Based Coastal Resource Management” video

Drop us, Pawi, and Groovy a line! 🐢

A collaborative project of the Ateneo de Manila AB Sociology students, Ateneo Socio-Cultural Fieldschool, Institute of Social Order (ISO), and the Department of Sociology and Anthropology-Anthropological and Sociological Initiatives of the Ateneo (DSAASIA)

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