BY NEIL RAMOS
Singer Pops Fernandez and actor Derek Ramsay are the latest celebrities to push for the conservation of the environment to help mitigate climate change.
The two were present at a web activity held Nov. 6, as presented by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and PLDT-Smart, to kick off Climate Change Consciousness Week.
The activity focused on peatlands, particularly the Caimpugan Peatland in the Agusan Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary (AMWS) – the only recorded remaining intact peat swamp forest and the largest of its kind – in the Philippines.
DENR Secretary Roy A. Cimatu explained, “Peatlands are dubbed as ‘one of the most valuable ecosystems on Earth’ according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature or IUCN because apart from all these uses, they also help mitigate climate change and global warming.”
Note that last July, the DENR thru Assistant Secretary for Climate Change and concurrent Director of BMB Ricardo Calderon and DENR-Caraga Regional Executive Director Hadja Didaw Piang-Brahim signed a memorandum of agreement with PLDT Group Chief Sustainability Officer Chaye Cabal-Revilla, also the concurrent PLDT SVP & Group Controller and Smart Chief Finance Officer, a three-year extendable project that aims to strengthen and support the implementation of peatland conservation and management strategies under the AMWS Management Plan.
Both Fernandez and Ramsay admitted they know nothing much about peatlands but they are happy to use their influence as celebrities to promote the cause.
Said Fernandez, “It is good to be part of this advocacy. I think we should all join hands and do our part in helping Mother Nature.”
“On my part, I would love to be able to spread awareness about it, just so our kababayans could also be informed. We need to save our environment, we need to save earth,” she added.
Ramsay shared, “I am still trying to know more about peatlands and I think this is a great opportunity for me besides being able to spread the word about it.”
