The Pasig City local government partnered with the Masungi Georeserve Foundation to raise awareness and train local teachers on environmental protection in order to mainstream watershed education.
Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto and officials from the Pasig Schools Division Office (SDO) met with representatives from the Masungi Georeserve and the Embassy of Canada on Friday, Nov. 4 at the city hall.
During the meeting, representatives of Masungi presented Sotto with their localized watershed education module.
To further entice students to learn about environmental conservation, Masungi also showcased “Lakbay Daloy,” a board game developed by their team.
Lakbay Daloy serves as an interactive method of teaching learners about the river flows of the watershed.
The module and board games are targeted towards students in the fifth to eighth grade.
Masungi said they will be training 100 teachers in four cities and municipalities around the Upper Marikina watershed.
The teachers who will participate in the training program will also be brought to the georeserve to facilitate a hands-on and immersive experience.
“Our goal is to increase citizens' awareness of the role and importance of our watershed. Recent floods and landslides showed the vital link between forests and cities,” Masungi said in a statement.
In a social media post, Sotto shared their meeting and expressed his support for the initiative.
“Awareness is the first step to protecting our environment, preventing devastating floods,” Sotto said.
Sotto's support for Masungi
With Sotto at the helm, the Pasig City local government has been open to collaborating with the Masungi Georeserve in expanding environmental protection initiatives.
He was one of the five Metro Manila mayors who signed the joint call to action of Masungi last June, pushing for the cancellation of quarrying agreements in the Upper Marikina Watershed.
The other Metro Manila signatories were Marikina City Mayor Marcelino “Marcy” Teodoro, former Muntinlupa City Mayor Jaime Fresnedi, Municipality of Angono, Rizal Vice Mayor Gerardo Calderon, and Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte.
Last September, Sotto also voiced his support for Masungi when armed individuals were seen at the georeserve.
He emphasized the need to defend the environment and to make the people aware of the perils of land grabbing.
In July, Sotto and members of the local government visited the reserve. They walked through the Discovery Trail and planted Katmon trees inside the geopark.
Masungi’s education for the youth
To promote environmentalism to the youth, the Masungi Georeserve Foundation offers schools the opportunity to immerse students and teachers in nature through their “Young Explorers Program.”
The program aims to help the youth “contribute to a more sustainable Philippines.”
Learners go on a one-to-two-hour trek through the Discovery Trail, traversing “the trail’s stone steps across a secondary forest, a cave, a limestone peak and bamboo groves.”
They are taught the history of Masungi, their conservation efforts, and other development practices throughout the trip.
They can also plant trees in select areas in order to help reforest the reserve.
With the help of Filipino conservationists, the georeserve has also set up the Masungi 360° for the public who wish to have a virtual experience of the georeserve.
It is the “first interactive platform that offers an immersive learning experience on our native and endemic biodiversity, featuring real-life stories of rural communities and challenges of conservation on the ground.”
Masungi also has a variety of accessible information kits in their website including online brochures and briefers regarding deforestation, reforestation, land speculation, local and indigenous community, and sustainable tourism practices.