Armi U. Budomo*

The sustainability of any development project is largely dependent on the active participation and sense of ownership of the project by the beneficiaries themselves.

Introduction.

Among behavioral scientists, it is common knowledge that the behavior and any decision and actions an individual make are shaped by the values, attitudes and practices the individual learned as a child and developed into adulthood. This behavioral theory is the underlying guideline behind the holding of a youth camp on coastal resource management (CRM) initiated by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) as an information, education and communicatin (IEC) strategy in support of the implementation of the Bureau’s Fisheries Resources Management Project (FRMP). Through the youth camp, BFAR hopes to develop a corps of concerned youth who will eventually become responsible stewards of the coastal resources, they, who represent the youth, being the ultimate and future beneficiaries of any development project today.

Anda as pilot site

Some 30 junior and senior girls scouts and their troop leaders from the Quezon City and Pangasinan Chapters participated in the CRM Youth Camp conducted by Bureau in June 2002 at Tondol Beach in Anda. The CRM Youth Camp was the first of its kind ever held thoughout the country. Learnings from the Anda experience would be used as inputs for future similar youth camps in other BFAR-FRMP sites all over the country.

Anda is an island town in the western part of the province. Because of its proximity to the famous Hundred Islands across Tambac Bay in Alaminos City to the east of Lingayen Gulf, Anda is known as the mother island of the famous island group. Also across Tambac Bay to the southeast is the town of Bani; and to the northwest across the Caquipotan Channel is the town of Bolinao. The local economy is largely dependent on fishing and partly on agriculture.

The local government has adopted eco-tourism as a long-term development strategy. The twin objectives are to protect and conserve its coastal resources and to provide an alternative livelihood to people. The bottomline is sustainable development of Tondol Beach and its immediate environs as eco-tourism site. Thus was the campsite chosen for the first CRM youth camp.

Learning CRM on camp is fun

The week-long youth camp included seminars on the state of the fishing industry and coastal resources in the country for a macro view with focus on Anda as a microcosm of the country. These increased their awareness of the endangered marine species as well as of the interrelationship of the different ecosystems in the coastal area. There were discussions on the current issues, concerns and problems in CRM. The participants were divided into groups and each group formulated recommendations to address said issues, problems. There were also lecture-demonstrations on waste management. As participant-observers, they learned the importance of the technology and had hands-on application of the techniques of waste segregation and composting.

To stress the importance of the sea as a source of livelihood for the people in the island municipality, the participants were exposed to shellcraft making and fish drying ventures in the neighboring barangays. They also trekked to different beaches and neighboring islets and sandbars for a first hand information on the state of the areas.

Guided by the child learning principle that children learn better while having fun, the Anda experience included games, poster making, and songs, where the girl scouts expressed their appreciation and commitment on their roles as future stewards of the environment.

To reinforce the participants’ cognitive learning on the importance of mangroves in the coastal ecosystem through lectures, the girl scouts travelled by boat across Tambac Bay to the town of Bani for a site visit to the town’s Marine Protected Area. The 43-hectare Bani MPA is a mangrove forest rehabilitation site recently declared a bird sanctuary which is also being developed for eco-tourism. Back in Tondol, the girl scouts applied their newly acquired knowledge and skills in CRM by reforesting a one-hectare area in front of the camp site with 1,000 mangrove seedlings. A recent site visit to the reforested area by this writer with Tina Basco, FRMP-IEC National Coordinator, showed a survival rate of the of 98 percent.

FRMP management has lined up a follow-up site visit by the same group to the mangrove reforestation area this year. The activity is intended to enhance the value of ownership of the mangrove area among the youth who participated in the reforestation effort, Basco explained.

Joining the bandwagon

The BFAR Region 1 intends to replicate the Anda experience with another youth camp, this time to be attended by selected elementary and first year to third year high school students from coastal schools in Region 1. The tentative camp site is Alaminos City. This will be done in cooperation with some local schools and LGUs in the region. The activity is in recognition of the importance of continuously molding desirable CRM values among the youth and in instilling in them a sense of responsibility over their coastal resources.

Early this 2003, BFAR has sponsored similar youth camps in the Visayas and in Mindanao. Lessons and insights from the Anda experience were inputted in the improvement of the succeeding youth camp activities.