EcoWatch trains Lanao Sur students on proper waste disposal

COTABATO CITY– More than a hundred youth in Lanao del Sur were given an orientation on proper waste disposal and other environmental issues during a seminar on Solid Waste Management held last week.High school students from Bacolod-Kalawi National High School, Mindanao State University (MSU) Balindong, Balindong National High School, and MSU Marantao – all in Lanao del Sur – attended the two-day event, which started on August 6, at Samporna Hall, Ayala Hotel Resort in Marawi City.The seminar is part of EcoWatch, a program of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao’s (ARMM) vice governor that aims at providing local residents, especially the youth, environmental information and issues in the region. The program was started in 2013.Part of the seminar conducted in Marawi City was the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement between the Office of the Regional Vice Governor and the respective schools for the installation of a permanent garbage disposal area”.As of date, more than a thousand residents including professionals, college students and civil society organizations in the region have benefited from the EcoWatch program.ARMM Vice Governor Haroun Al-Rashid Lucman said that his office wants to inculcate in the minds of ARMM residents, especially the youth, that the environment should be protected. He said that the EcoWatch program is an instrument to address environmental issues in the region.Pipalawan Naga, head of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources Provincial Office in Lanao del Sur encouraged the youth to spend more time looking for ways to protect the environment, rather than get hooked on activities that do not benefit society. The same seminar will also be conducted within the year in other provinces in the region.