“Practice, practice, practice.” Haribon conservationists and experts never stop learning. Biologist Gregorio “Ditto” E. dela Rosa Jr. attended the 12th Philippine Association of Marine Scientists (PAMS) in Tacloban last October 2013 to do just that. Here he shares how it was like to see old friends, make new ones, and realize that the little things do indeed matter, especially in coastal community awareness work.
An Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) Presentation at the 12th Philippine Association of Marine Scientists (PAMS) National Conference.
by Gregorio E. dela Rosa Jr., Biologist
March 2014
Preparation is the key. As our dynamic and always exuberant lecturer, Dr. David Smith of the University of Essex, had said, “it’s practice, practice, practice.” This has become my mantra ever since our 2011 Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) Coral Reel Field Course, which I just applied recently when I presented the results of my conservation work for the EDGE Coral Reef project in Burdeos during the 12th Philippine Association of Marine Scientists (PAMS) National Conference at the University of the Philippines in the Visayas Tacloban City last October.
On our first day, I was able to chat with all my old friends, got to meet new friends while I wait to be registered, and be a PAMS member. After the opening program, a short orientation was given to us, as chairs of the Conservation of Threatened Marine Species session, together with Dr. Arnel Yaptinchay of the Marine Mammal Watch of the Philippines.
Marine Protected Area (MPA) Support System network meeting.
During my spare time, I practiced my slides, my presentation which I will give out on the third day of the conference. I timed my presentations during my ‘rehearsals’. When it was my turn to present, it was all vanilla. As I answered the last question, I encouraged the audience to apply for the EDGE Fellowship.
Not all my time was spent on practicing my presentation. On the second day, I attended other sessions that could add value to my work and in Haribon. This included increasing awareness in biodiversity conservation and effectiveness in establishing marine protected area networks such as larval source and sinks, and remote sensing using geographic information systems for habitat mapping among others. One of Haribon’s networks, the Marine Protected Area (MPA) Support Network (MSN) also had a meeting after dinner followed by another meeting regarding a project development for a national coral reef assessment to be funded by the Department of Science and Technology.
Congratulations to the new officers of the Philippine Association of Marine Scientists.
As I attended the presentation on increasing awareness in coastal communities, little things do matter. As simple as requiring participants in a community workshop to bring their own eating utensils to reduce the use of plastics has a really big impact especially to coastal communities where solid waste is a big problem. Another presentation that I felt significant was having an accurate and precise data in order to transform it into a meaningful action that is timely and can be understood by the community and the local government.
