Youth Offer Sustainable Solutions for Davao’s Environmental Problems
Young researchers from Davao City high schools and universities convened to give their share of solutions to the city’s environmental problems including pollution in Davao river and crop loss in banana plantations. Hannah Sheen Lopez of Davao City National High School introduced acommon plant-based organic flocculant made from saluyot leaf extract that she found to have successfully reduced the coliforms and E. coli in the turbid water of Davao river. The solution is cheap and readily accessible to the public, she said, so that water can be treated for household and farm use, especially in a time when water supply can be limited.
Brgy. Sibulan Soon to be Davao’s First Organic Zone
After more than three years of repeated calls to declare Brgy. Sibulan in Toril as an organic agricultural zone, the proposal for the Ordinance is now at the City Council. The proposal has been discussed with Technical Committee on Organic Agriculture members and BLGU during first committee hearing under the Committee on Agriculture led by Councilor Marissa Abella on August 8, 2018. The Sangguniang Barangay of Sibulan has reiterated the call to fast track the approval of the resolution they passed way back in 2014. The City Agriculturist Office also endorsed a draft recommended version of an Executive Order to the City Legal Office last April 26, 2018. But The City Legal Office clarified that under the Organic Agriculture Ordinance, the declaration of an organic zone necessitates an ordinance instead of an Executive Order.
Sibulan as Davao’s No-GMO Zone
Proliferation of genetically modified and chemically produced crops feared by health and environmental conscious Dabawenyos will have no place in Brgy. Sibulan once it is declared as Davao city’s first organic agriculture zone. Davao City Agriculturist Office supported by Association of Davao Organic Advocates await for the Executive Order to be issued by the City Mayor that will prohibit all synthetic and chemical-based farm inputs. The resolution and recommended provisions were endorsed to the City Legal Office last month.
Shrine Hills is Davao’s Urban Center Bird Refuge
As many as 72 species of birds have been documented in Davao City’s Shrine Hills. Twenty of these recorded birds are found only in the Philippines. The area is seen as an urban forest, a much needed green space in the urban district and hailed as the city’s last potential large-tier park based on the public parks study in Davao by New York University. Environmental groups are advocating for Shrine Hills’ continued protection and are proposing the privately-owned publicly open spaces (POPOS) concept as a win-win solution for land owners who want to develop their properties for business. “We managed an impressive 26 species on the day and the total species recorded in the Shrine Hills area now numbers 72, 20 of which are endemic,” said Pete Simpson, Wild Bird Club of the Philippines, who has been making records of birds for Jacks Ridge and other areas in Shrine Hills.
Interfacing Interventions Newsletter for Partners and Stakeholders
IDIS Newsletter Vol 2 Issue 2017
Sara slams groups over WTE criticism
“They’re barking up the wrong tree,” Mayor Sara Duterte said addressing the Integrated Development Interventions (IDIS), an environment group who criticized her over her partnership with Mayor Kenji Kitakashi of Kitakyushu, Japan for a waste management project. The mayor clarified the signing was for the technology assistance on waste management of the Kitakyushu Government to the city. “They are barking up the wrong tree because the WTE (Waste to Energy) is with the private company particularly the Nippon Steel,” Duterte told Mirror. She said the signing was for the technology assistance of the Kitakyushu government to the city of Davao.