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PAWCZMS organizes ecotour for grade school students of Las Pias City

TEACHING EM YOUNG

DENR-NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION

Official Publication of PAWCZMS

LIKASYAMAN

Armed with their notepads and digital cameras, grade school students from Las Pias City line up as they enter Freedom Island in LPPCHEA. The Organized by PAWCZMS, in cooperation with the Department of Education (DepED) Division of City Schools-Las Pias City, the ecotour is part of the World Wetlands Day Celebration of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-National Capital Region (DENR-NCR).

LAS PIAS CITY - The Protected Areas, Wildlife and Coastal Zone Management Services (PAWCZMS) of DENR-NCR recently organized an ecotour for grade school students of Las Pias City. Held on World Wetlands Day, February 2, 2014, at the Las Pias-Paraaque Critical Habitat and Ecotourism Area (LPPCHEA), more than fifty (50) Grade III and VI students from four (4) public elementary schools from Las Pias City participated in the event. Accompanied by their teachers, students from Daniel Fajardo Elementary School, Pamplona I Elementary School, Pulanglupa Elementary School, and North Bay Boulevard Elementary School, excitedly explored the famed bird sanctuary and wetland habitat on foot. Aided by LPPCHEA Project Manager Rey M.T. Aguinaldo and his staff, the students learned first hand not only of the many ecological components and functions of a wetland resource, but the need as well to protect and conserve it. The highlight of the tour is the introduction of birdwatching as an alternative outdoor recreation and bonding activity for the family. Both students and teacher-participants were able to see and identify a number of the migratory birds that frequent the area during winter season.

The ecotour is a follow-up activity of PAWCZMS to the wetlands lecture series it conducted in the same schools a few days before in celebration of World Wetlands Day. It is designed to reinforce the learnings of the students thru actual exposure on the many different types of wetland habitats that the LPPCHEA is. Hopefully, says Regional Technical Director for PAWCZMS Donna Mayor-Gordove, the students learn to appreciate nature and act responsibly. We cannot overstate the fact that we are currently in a state of ecological crisis and that we need to respond accordingly. The growing number of superthypoons that visit the country, she adds, should be our cue. Wetlands such as the LPPCHEA provides many invaluable services to us, not least of which as buffers against strong winds and waves that typhoons like Yolanda brings. She then pointed out the case of the three islets of Molacaboc in Sagay City, Negros Oriental which survived the onslaught of Yolanda late last year because of the presence of thick mangrove forests in the area. So it is quite important that we teach people about the value of mangroves and that we start teaching em young, especially here in Las Pias as they are the direct beneficiaries of the LPPCHEA, Dir. Gordove concludes.

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