Let’s HANGOUT in Iloilo City and join the Annual International Coastal Cleanup!

The Ocean Conservancy is inviting everyone to join the Annual International Coastal Cleanup held on 2nd or 3rd weekend of September. This is a global effort to clean-up the coastline, rivers and lakes of trash and recording them for future references and studies.

The 2008 International Coastal Cleanup campaign gathered 400,000 volunteers from around the world and collected 6.8 million pounds of trash. The Philippines has been actively participating since 1994 in this annual global effort with 2,625,284 volunteers throughout the country.

There is no specific data about the clean-up activities in Iloilo city and province. But to give us some idea, here is the 2007 Ocean Conservancy Summary Report for the Philippines by ICC Coordinator Geronimo P. Reyes and Samuel Umandap:

In Philippines, 50,526 volunteers participated in the ICC, removing 250,973.9 pounds of trash and debris from 217.2 miles of shoreline. In addition, 721 volunteer divers participated in underwater cleanups, removing 6,999.8 pounds of debris from 31.5 miles of seafloor. 65.9 percent of the debris found in Philippines came from land-based activities like picnics, festivals, sporting events, and beach outings. Litter washed from streets, parking lots, and storm drains also contributed to this category.

Ocean and water-based activities offshore such as boating and fishing accounted for 17.9 percent of Philippines’s debris. Globally, 6.3 percent of collected debris came from ocean and waterway-based activities

Smoking-related products (cigarette filters, cigar tips, and tobacco packaging) accounted for 13.6 percent of the debris found in Philippines. Worldwide, these items comprised 33.6 percent of the six million pounds of debris collected.

Plastic bags top the list of debris collected.

To illustrate further some coastal area conditions in our country, here is a couple of pictures I grabbed from my friend’s facebook. These were taken during a bird population census last January of 2007.

photo source: kaakbay

Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup has thousands of volunteers and supporters. HANGOUT in Iloilo and  help clean-up Iloilo River and Coastal areas! 
To register: http://www.oceanconservancy.org

Areas already identified for clean-up in Iloilo and nearby provinces:

Parola-Quirino Bridge, Fort San Pedro-Ortiz, Sto. Nino Sur in Arevalo,

Nogas Island, Boracay Island

Brgy. Sampirit in Negros, Punta Ballo also in Negros

(Article and photo sources: oceanconservancy.org, apps.facebook.com)