MAJESTIC LANDSCAPE. The Ridge-to-Reef Young Leaders Camp headed to the indigenous community of Miarayon located at the foot of Mt Kalatungan, where the campers had their experience-based learning and first-hand exposure of the lumad culture and their economic and environmental challenges. The mountain range is considered as a protected area, home to diverse ecosystems in Northern Mindanao.
Words by Stephen J Pedroza, with reports by Tat Gualberto
Photos by Jan Amper and Chum Magdadaro
Young campers of the Ridge-to-Reef Young Leaders Camp (R2RYLC) in Northern Mindanao, reflected on their crucial roles in effective and sustainable natural resources management, and in raising environmental awareness in their communities.
“To fully come up with a solution, we need to understand the problem,” shared Jeraquim Tumopas, one of the campers. “[We have become] well-acquainted with the concept [of environmental conservation], but before we implement our projects, the Ridge-to-Reef Young Leaders Camp taught us the purpose of our participation in the entire process [of conservation].”
Experts in the fields of resource management, ecosystem services sustainability and multimedia production were tapped to train the participants who will eventually ripple their learning to fellow millennials.
“As youth leaders of our communities, kabalo na mi unsa among buhaton sa among projects [we now know how to go about with our projects],” Tumopas continued, after undergoing the information, education and communication (IEC) production training, the second of the three-phase camp.
Members from Xavier University’s Development Communication Society (DevComSoc) served as technical mentors of the campers on process documentation reporting, photography and visual production, among others. After the said workshop, the campers embarked on an educational trip to the Agutayan Island for their coastal exposure.
The involvement of DevComSoc in R2RYLC formed part of their Empowering Development Initiatives through Technologies (EDIT) project this year.
The campers also underwent training and lecture sessions in grassroots planning, local land governance and cultural understanding of ecosystem conservation especially in the indigenous peoples’ communities.
The IEC outputs of the youth groups are expected to be based on their own contexts and issues close to their communities.
“Ang amoa diay nga pagpananum sa bukid, dako diay siya og impact diri [in the lowlands]. Na-realize nako nga ang ridge-to-reef conservation, dako kay og tabang. Cycle siya,” said Chrisitinejoy Guina-Agudo, a camper from Bukidnon.
[The tree-planting activities in the upland have a great impact in the lowlands. I realized how important ridge-to-reef conservation is. It’s a cycle.]
Agudo’s team and other youth groups worked on their project proposals during their ideation days in the chilly highland of Miarayon, Talakag, Bukidnon in December last year. Their IEC pitches ranged from customary environmental campaigns and workshops to upbeat concerts and multimedia presentations.
“Kung maghatag ta og kaayohan sa Kinaiyahan, naa pod siya’y ibalik sa atoa. Kung kami nga gikan sa ridges, kung ma-influence namo ang mga kabataan didto nga maningkamot sa pagprotekta sa Kinaiyahan, kung unsa’y gikan sa taas, maka-benefit diay g’yapon sa ubos,”Agudo reflected.
[If we do something good for Mother Earth, she will equate it with goodness. If we, who are from the ridges, can influence other young people to protect our forests, they will realize that what we do here in the highlands will trickle down to the lowlands.]
LEARNING WITH OTHERS. The campers prepare their project proposals for their final pitching. Each group (formed according to geographical location and tribal groups) is tasked to ideate and present their own environmental initiatives which they are now implementing to solve environmental concerns in their local communities.
Cagayan de Oro City acts as the catchment basin of the Northern Mindanao’s upstream bodies of water, and serves to gain from the protection of Mt Kalatungan. Being the catch basin of the waters from the hinterlands of Bukidnon, riverbank communities of CDO bear massive casualties and significant damage to property during strong typhoons.
Now on its third and last phase, the R2RYLC is pleased to present the projects the campers themselves designed.
• B-SURE (Bitan-ag Sustainability and Rehabilitation)
• TASME (Take a Selfie with Mother Nature)
• Culture for Nature (A concert to promote the Talaandig culture and care for the environment)
• BANTULA (A concert to promote the Talaandig culture and care for the environment)
• YSON (Youth Stewards of Nature) will conduct a workshop in Miarayon to form and empower a local youth organization with environmental agenda.
• SEA TO SUMMIT- A group will conduct simultaneous planting activities in the mountain, riverside, and coastal communities. Part of their project also is to hold environmental seminars and campaigns in various schools.
Each youth group is allotted with a small grant from Smart Telecommunications Inc to execute their projects in their respective communities.
This multi-faceted camp will culminate with an exhibit at the Centrio – Ayala Mall on March 5 with representatives from the US Embassy in Manila, which supported the project through its Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) Seeds for the Future Grant Competition. R2RYLC is one of the 18 winning projects across the ASEAN region, tackling Southeast Asia’s challenges on education, environmental protection, civic engagement, and economic development.
"We had fun and we learned new things. As a student, we study the ecosystems, but the classroom can’t afford us with the actual experience,” shared Clyde Astrero, “But in this camp, we were able to actualize what we learned. I have come to understand the problems of our environment more.”
FROM THE RIDGES TO THE RIVERS. The young campers take a pose at the start of their ecosystem exposure and appreciation activity. After heading to the mountains, they went to the rivers to see the interconnectedness of the natural resources.
