The University of Batangas' Participation in Mangrove Rehabilitation

Mangroves are coastal trees or shrubs that have characteristic features that allow them to live in estuarine or saline conditions in marine waters. The most common mangroves in the Philippines are Rhizophora, Avicennia, Bruguiera, Sonneratia and Nypa. Mangroves have many known benefits: environmental, ecological, economic, and source of food products. There has been a steady decline of primary mangrove forests, even secondary forest. This decline continues at an alarming rate. The major causes of mangrove loss in the Philippines are logging and fishpond conversion. Continuous deforestation of mangrove forests would have serious negative implications. The loss of mangrove forests lead to negative impacts such as loss of protection from strong tidal waves during storms, siltation, extinction of valuable species, loss of livelihood, and a threat to food security. Those who would mostly be affected by the negative impacts are the coastal communities that usually are marginalized sectors of the society.

Only recently have mangrove protection and reforestation efforts have been given attention. Different institutions from all over the country are involved in conservation and protection of the remaining mangrove forests, as well as reforestation of the disturbed mangrove areas. These institutions are multi-sectoral which includes the government, non-governmental organizations, local communities and private institutions. One private institution that is involved in mangrove reforestation efforts in the province of Batangas is University of Batangas (UB).

UB, formerly Western Philippine Colleges (WPC), is one of the largest private universities in Batangas province. It was founded on April 28, 1946. UB, is a stock, non-sectarian, private educational institution. UB through the Research and Development Center (RDC) joined the national and regional organizations for the environment. Researches and extension services on environmental science and protection were strongly emphasized. This was how the University became involved in mangrove reforestation projects.

Projects and researches about mangrove have become an important endeavor for UB. First, it is one way of implementing their corporate social responsibility as stated in the school's vision. Second, mangrove rehabilitation is one field where UB shows its commitment to the environment as a participating member of the Batangas Coastal Resources Management Foundation