Enviro-Kidz/Teens: A Chance to Explore the Last Coastal Frontier - LPPCHEA

In the observance of Philippine Environment Month which is the month of June, and in line with the implementation of Republic Act 9512 (Environmental Education and Awareness Act of 2008), the Environmental Management Bureau- National Capital Region conducted the Environmental Education and Awareness Seminar at the Las Pinas- Paranaque Critical Habitat and Ecotourism Area (LPPCHEA) on June 29, 2016. It was attended by participants from the Division of San Juan, Quezon City and Muntinlupa. DepEd San Juan City sent the Enviro-Kidz of the public elementary schools and the newly organized Enviro- Teens composed of students from the Special Science of San Juan National High School together with their advisers and the Science supervisor.

The presentations and lectures of the speakers from the DENR and Manila Bay Coast Guard raised the awareness of the participants on environmental issues and their role in the preservation and conservation of the environment. After the lectures, the participants were introduced to a diverse variety of ecosystems as they trekked inside the area. With the verdant landscape, calm lagoons, mangrove forest with their amazing pneumatophores for gas exchange, and diverse wild birds, the area gives the visitors a chance to commune with nature.

The event was an experience that deepened the spirit of being environmentalist of the participants. They were exposed to the real situations of what is happening to the different ecosystems not in a far country side, but within the buzz and fuss of urban living. They had a chance to tour in the so called last coastal frontier in Metro Manila, the LPPCHEA.

The LPPCHEA is a nature reserve situated south of Manila Bay. Established in 2007 thru Presidential Proclamation No. 1412, LPPCHEA is the first critical habitat to be declared in the country. It is a wetland ecosystem consists of two (2) islands, -Freedom Island and Long Island- with mangroves, ponds and lagoons, mudflats, salt marshes, and mixed beach forest all over. It was recognized as a wetland with international importance by the Ramsar Convention because of the critical role it plays in the survival of threatened, restricted-range and migrating bird species.

Indeed, the Enviro- kidz and teens experienced a fun-filled, adventurous, educational, and strengthen their environmental awareness in this seminar/tour with their visit to LPPCHEA.

Enviro-Kidz/Teens, Advisers, and Science Supervisor at LPPC HEA