Coastal Cleanup with Plastic Free Bohol

Hours: 7:30 am to 10:30am
Location : Libaong Beach, Panglao (municipality), Bohol (province), Philippines

International Coastal Cleanup Day
It was the International Coastal Cleanup Day with organizer Jammy and friends of Plastic Free Bohol leading the charge in rallying eco-warriors from near and far to join in a concerted effort to cleanup Libaong Beach in Panglao.

Choc Full of Garbage
It wasn't pretty dealing with garbage and its repulsive "kadiri" factor. It wasn't just plastic but soiled condoms, bloodied sanitary napkins, water-logged diapers, broken glass, rusty galvanized sheets, etc. Some volunteers even braved the cleanup with bare hands!

Not Just Cosmetic
Sure, it's ugly seeing garbage lining-up the beach. But cleaning up goes beyond cosmetics. The ramification of plastic/garbage is profound and compelling:

1. entanglement - big and small fishes get tangled and die from stray nets and nylon strings. In Coron, Palawan, the leading cause of Dugong death (as narrated to me by local fishermen) is not poaching but entanglement. A dugong will just wash up on the beach wrapped in a stray nets!
2. ingestion - fish and birds mistake plastic for food. Fishes or birds who die from this cause show plastic side by side their skeletons and feathers
3. reproduction - according to a marine biologist acquaintance, plastic, even if it's broken down to its molecular level is still plastic - it does not bio-degrade. Fish mistake it for food and it messes up with their reproduction. They lay eggs with single genders - all male or all female! It's a long list of bad shit.

Band Aid Solution
Cleaning up the coast is a noble endeavor - but nonetheless, it's a band-aid solution to a hemorrhage. The people who indiscriminately throw their garbage will continue doing this, oblivious to the damage they cause. The eco-warriors in turn, will again schedule another clean-up drive. And this cycle will continue to loop with no end in sight.

Education
The long-term solution is pretty much obvious - education. But the challenge here is, how do you educate them in a way they can understand? How do you make them stakeholders for the cause? Local officials are known to say Yes just to shut you up but do nothing to implement the process. This is specially true if there's no money in it for them. Perhaps an effective approach to educating them is to find an innovative/creative system that will make money for them by sustaining a clean coast. Sadly, appealing to an idealized notion of a clean coastline doesn't work with marginalized thinking - you have to dangle money or some kind of tangible gain to make them act on it.

Apo Island Experiment
I have seen this happen successfully in Apo Island, Negros Oriental - not by way of eliminating garbage but by implementing no-fishing zones to allow the marine eco-system to recover and thrive. There was intense initial resistance from the locals whose livelihood were threatened. But in the long run, because of a healthy coral system, tourists came in droves and tourism money translated into prosperity for the locals. The locals finally realized that live turtles or pelagic fishes in the reef generate more money for them than having the fish served on a dinner plate. Now, the locals themselves take initiative in policing themselves to ensure continued sustainance of the reef system.

The lesson here is to tie-up the conservation effort with something clever to increase livelihood for the locals. Then you don't have to police them - they will police themselves.

Stick Dissuasion
The above tourism revenue approach is the carrot persuasion. I would also like to suggest a stick dissuasion to act as deterrent. People caught littering are apprehended and made to gather on a weekend to do a clean-up drive themselves with full public knowledge that these people are being penalized for littering. The threat of losing face in the Filipino culture is perhaps the most persuasive. This takes political will as barangay enforcers are likely to be related to the very people they will apprehend. It's never simple.

Ending Thoughts
When I was asked by UP Diliman to teach a CWTS program (a civilian alternative to the current military training program - ROTC), I had to make a lot of research on how to make better citizens of a population. There are many such programs in place already taught in schools by most first world countries. In fact, "good citizenship" in its many names and permutations are already an integral part of the school curriculum right from day one. Kids grow up knowing that they are part of the nation-building process and they know the role they play. I cannot underscore enough the positive ripple-effect of good education. I wish we could have environmental stewardship being a part of the school curriculum in this country.

I applaud the organizers and participants of this weekend's coastal cleanup for making time, putting the effort, braving the heat of the sun and the stench of the garbage for love of a greener planet. They talk the talk, but more importantly, they walk the talk.

--- Gigit (TheLoneRider)
YOGA by Gigit | Learn English | Travel like a Nomad | Donation Bank

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Coastal Cleanup Blogs

1. Coastal Cleanup with Plastic Free Bohol Sept 16, 2017
2. Coastal Cleanup with the UP Mountaineers Sep 17, 2005

Bohol Google Map

Bohol, Philippines

tourist attractions

• Danao Adventure Park - zip lining, cable car ride, caving, river rides/trekking, off-road buggy ride, root climbing, rappelling and ultra-glide rides
• Alona Beach - hub for tourists with hotels, resorts, restos, bars and dive shops
• Chocolate Hills - hills side-by-side shaped like giant Kisses chocolate
• Tarsier - pocket-sized marsupia looking like a monkey
• Balicasag Island - one of the best dive spots in the Philippines
• Loboc River - river cruise on a boat
• Anda Beach - fine white sand beach with resorts, restos and cottages, 3 hours by bus from Tagbilaran
• Cabagnow Cave Pool - brackish water pool about 5ft deep inside a limestone opening on the ground, 8 feet deep, P50
• Lamanok Island - walk on a 100m bamboo bridge on stilts to a resto area to take a boat tour to caves and nearly attractions, P300
• Combento Cave Pool - cave pool with underwater cave system, P20
• Can-umantad Falls - long narrow drop until it hits a bulbous mound spreading it into a a curtain-like water canopy and down into a splash pool
• Canawa Cold Spring - deep refreshing cold spring with developed pool area
• Firefly Tour - evening boat ride into the river to watch fireflies

hotel

• Fox & The Firefly Cottages - SUP paddle boarding, luxury riverside native cottages, mountain bike tours, SUP yoga
  Baranggay Valladolid, Loboc, Bohol
• Bohol Tropics Resort - seafront location, manicured surroundings, swimming pool, resto/bar
  0133 Graham Avenue, Brgy. Cogon, Tagbilaran, Bohol 6300
• Oasis Resort - Alona Beach location, dive center, resto / bar
  Alona Beach, Panglao, Bohol

yoga

• Jing Yoga - health & well being through yoga
  The Courtyard - Airport Road fronting the church
  Bohol Meditation and Yoga Center - 2nd Floor Lim Magtajas Bldg. CPG Avenue

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