Objective: rehabilitate a forest to revive local fish stocks
In the rural town of Limay, 150 kilometres north of the capital city of Manila, residents noticed fish stocks were dwindling, water was getting polluted, and the mangrove forest was shrinking at Alangan Cove. In this remote community, opportunities to earn a living are scarce.
Alstom has supported the replanting of 40,000 mangrove seedlings to rehabilitate the forest, which will revive fish stocks. Additional support is given to advise teachers on using the nutritious indigenous moranga plants for school meals, and for demonstrating to the local residents how to grow vegetables off-season to supplement family incomes.
Update – February 2010
The mangrove reforestation project has come to a
successful end, with nearly two hectares of mangroves planted at the Alangan
Cove, reinforcing coastal protection and shoring up fish stocks. In addition,
the programme provided support for local community projects and coastal
clean-up, as well as going beyond environmental education to help teachers and
students learn leadership skills through training, mentorship and incentives.
Actions undertaking include:
- a youth
leadership camp during which students learned about pollution and waste
management, sustainable use of resources, global warming and conservation
of threatened species
- livelihood
development activities such as off-season vegetable production have been
conducted as a means to augment family incomes
- a three month
feeding programme to aid the most severely malnourished students from five
schools in Limay