Volunteering to clean up coastal environment

EACH year on the third Saturday of September, hundreds of thousands of volunteer clean up trash and debris from beaches, shorelines, coasts, rivers, lakes, waterways, and dive sites all over the world, in observance of International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) Day, as world’s largest, one-day volunteer effort to clean up the marine environment and help the global community lessen the impact of climate change.

The 30th ICC Day on September 19 is expected to surpass the 561,000 volunteers in 91 countries, including the Philippines, who picked up more than 16 million pounds of ocean-bound garbage consisting of cigarette butts, food and candy wrappers, plastic beverage bottles and caps, straws and stirrers, soda cans, among others, in 2014.

ICC was initiated in 1986 by Washington-based Ocean Conservatory, a non-government group that promotes healthy and diverse ocean ecosystems, by educating and empowering citizens to take action on behalf of the ocean. The project has been removing millions of pounds of trash mucking up on ocean floors and beaches to bring back the health of the ocean, as well as building team spirit and encouraging businesses to extend corporate social responsibility with the community. The great thing about participating in beach cleanup is that even if volunteers donate only a few minutes of their time, they could save the life of a marine animal, according to Ocean Conservancy, which is leading the observance for 30 years now.

ICC Day was first observed in the Philippines in 1994 led by the Philippine Coast Guard Auxiliary. In 2003, the country officially adopted the observance each year of National ICC Day pursuant to Proclamation No. 470 on September 15 in that year. Since then, the Philippines, which consistently ranks second worldwide in the number of volunteers next to United States, has been actively participating in the global environment event.

This year, Filipino volunteers, coming from the Philippine Coast Guard, the Coastal Cleanup Philippines Movement, the Boy Scouts of the Philippines, and national and local government agencies and universities, will participate in the simultaneous trash collection and tree and mangrove planting along the shorelines of Manila Bay in Cavite; in Freedom Island of Las Piñas, the Critical Habitat and Ecotourism Area in San Dionisio, Parañaque; the seaside area along Baywalk, Roxas Boulevard; and in many provincial coastlines.

Led by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, National ICC Day instills among Filipinos that just as important as removing the trash, they should be looking for its source, as well as helping people change the behavior that creates trash and causes pollution, and promoting waste management for a clean, healthy and sustainable coastal environment. Marine and coastal areas must be protected because 80 percent of Filipinos depend on fish for their protein requirement.