Derek Ramsay, Pops Fernandez to help raise awareness about peatlands

Derek Ramsay and Pops Fernandez commit to raising awareness about the conservation of peatlands in the country.

The two Kapuso celebrities joined the media launch of the partnership between the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and local telecommunications PLDT and Smart Communications to jointly implement a peatland conservation program.

Peatlands are a type of wetlands ecosystem vital in providing safe drinking water, assist in preserving global biodiversity, and help reduce flood risks.

In a statement, DENR Sec. Cimatu mentioned, “Peatlands are dubbed as 'one of the most valuable ecosystems on Earth,' according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, or IUCN, because apart from all these uses, they also help mitigate climate change and global warming.

Peatlands have peat soils consisting of carbon-rich dead and decaying plant matter.

If kept wet, peatlands can store twice as much carbon as all the world's forests combined.

Its crucial role in mitigating climate change, as well as the huge costs that arise when these natural carbon sinks are damaged, remains largely overlooked.

In the Philippines, there are two discovered peatlands--the sub-peatland in Leyte and, of course, the Agusan Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary in Agusan del Sur.

In a web conference held earlier, November 6, DENR assistant secretary Ricardo Calderon mentioned that the government is now looking for more peatlands in the country.

He said, "Being a ramsar site, the Agusan Marsh, we were able to document how important the carbon storage facility as far as the Agusan Marsh, Caimpugan Ecosystem.

"Right now, we're in the process of doing an inventory because there are other peatland areas that remain undiscovered. It's a continuing activity for us."

Unlike other environmental advocacies, conservation of peatlands is not yet given enough highlight thus, DENR and PLDT-Smart introduce the initiative ahead of Climate Change Consciousness Week, which will happen later this month.

PLDT Chairman and CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan said the company has been interested in helping the government in identifying peatlands in the country ever since.

"We're really looking for more concrete ways by which we could help the people out there in Agusan to preserve what is a very natural carbon sink," he said.

Meanwhile, as its celebrity advocates, Derek and Pops offer to use their status to increase awareness about peatlands.

Pops said, "You know, there's really a concern, I was not as serious about it couple of years back. But now that I've seen a lot of change and all these things that are happening on earth.

"You know, there's like storms one after the other, we have been experiencing that as well. Of course, there's also the earthquakes.

"It's alarming and I feel that it would be nice to be part of something like this to help reach out and communicate, not just the Philippines's problems but this is really the world's problem.

"I think we should all get together just to be aware, just to have our fellow kababayans be more aware about this serious problem.

"I mean, we're already experiencing so many things aside from the pandemic.

"But I also feel that this is gonna be and it is already a major problem and we do have to save our home.

"We have to be conscious enough, you know, how to save mother earth."

For his part, Derek said, "I've always been an environmentalist. I love mother earth. We should all love our mother earth.

"It's just, I chose peatlands because, I mean, everyone's aware of reforestations, the mangrove conservations.

"As what was mentioned earlier [about] peatlands, not so many people know about it.

"This is a good opportunity for me to help and spread the word about peatlands through social media, for me, to just talk about it and let people know what exactly are peatlands, how important they are, and why we should be saving them."

He also expressed his interest to personally join visits to discovered peatlands.

"I'm gonna do everything to help educate people about peatlands. I wanna join you on that trip to actually go and see them.

"I myself don't know much about them, but I've been doing my research. I'd love to see how they actually look like and help to find other areas in the Philippines that have peatlands.

"I'm just really proud and honored to be part of this. Like I said, we should all come together and save mother earth," he concluded.