AMORE BRECDA to spearhead Basilan coastal cleanup

Sumisip, Basilan – Members of a local association backed by a renewable energy-based rural electrification program covering the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and Western and Central Mindanao are taking the initiative this week to clear the coast in this small, remote community of debris that are harmful to people and animals.

On October 11, members of the community’s Barangay Renewable Energy and Community Development Association (BRECDA), which the Alliance for Mindanao Off-grid Renewable Energy (AMORE) Program organized and is training to operate and maintain the renewable energy systems that it is installing in the community – will lead an estimated 120 people from the Program’s management and staff as well as local government officials, officials of local government agencies, heads of local non-government organizations, and other local volunteers in scouring the beach for cigarette butts, fishing lines, six-pack holders, bottles, cans, syringes, tires, and other marine debris.

The move will serve as the ARMM’s pioneer contribution to the worldwide International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) Celebration held every year in October. The Ocean Conservancy (USA) is the overall coordinator of the ICC, with the International Marinelife Alliance Philippines (IMA) as its local arm.

All participants will be given data cards on which they will record all the debris that they have gathered. The information collected will be submitted to IMA, which will then analyze and evaluate the data and use it to formulate better solid waste management programs and policies. The AMORE-organized BRECDA is spearheading the activity as part of its initiatives to develop its community into a thriving, peaceful barangay, with help from the solar energy system installed by AMORE thereat.

The AMORE Program, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under its Office of Environmental Management and implemented by global non-profit organization Winrock International in cooperation with the Department of Energy, the ARMM and Mirant Philippines, is electrifying at least 160 remote rural communities in Muslim Mindanao – among them Barangay Lanawan – with clean and affordable renewable energy (RE) systems, such as solar, micr0-hydro, biomass and wind, to power micro-enterprise and social services development in the region and thereby promote long-term peace.

A key component of the Program’s sustainability strategy is its training of its beneficiary communities to operate and maintain the RE systems themselves long after AMORE has gone, including its support for the communities’ buildup of an Operations and Maintenance Fund and its demonstration to and training of the communities on the productive use of such systems for livelihood enhancement and social services development.

In furtherance of its environmental protection thrust, AMORE is forging a tie-up with Philippine Recylers, Inc. for the recycling of used-up lead acid batteries in its beneficiary communities, and is training its communities on the proper disposal of such batteries.