The University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU) has partnered with the UP Los Baños for the conduct of a webinar series titled “Revitalizing Socioecological Production Landscapes and Seascapes (SEPLS).” This webinar series aims to boost awareness, conservation, and sustainable utilization of SEPLS through experts on the Satoyama landscape in the Philippines.
In the first episode of the Revitalizing SEPLS webinar series, Ms. Anne Frances V. Buhay, a Project Assistant at the UP Open University (UPOU), presented her paper entitled Socioecological Production Landscapes in the Philippines: Status, Problems and Future Directions. This was held on 31 March 2022.
Ms. Buhay shared that SEPLS has many contributions to Sustainable Development— SDGs 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth, SDG 13 Climate Action, SDG 15 Life on Land, and SDG 17 Partnerships for the Goals. These SDGs also provide solutions to eradicate poverty, promote good health and well-being, reduced inequalities, promote responsible consumption and production, strengthen and maintain sustainable cities and communities, to name a few.
She mentioned that some problems and challenges in the degradation of SEPLS involve its unsustainable use, loss of biocultural diversity, and weak ecosystem services. In this regard, SEPLS’ future directions are the implementation of RA 6365 or the Population Act to regulate the population, poverty alleviation, preservation of remaining ancestral lands and empowerment of Indigenous People (IP) communities, sustainable management, and securing good governance and equitable sharing.
In conclusion, Ms. Buhay determined that SEPLS is a culture where nature and society have harmony. Moreover, SEPLS sustainability is a strategy for biodiversity conservation, and having a stable ecosystem services everyone hence the efforts to promote its sustainability.
The Revitalizing Socioecological Production Landscapes and Seascapes (SEPLS) is a webinar series activity of Project 1 of the Emerging Interdisciplinary Research (EIDR), Building Climate Smart Communities (bSMART) Program of the University of the Philippines (UP) System, implemented by UPOU in partnership with UPLB. The webinar was organized by Dr. Inocencio E. Buot, Jr., Project Leader and Professor at the Institute of Biological Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, UPLB, and was hosted by Ms. Marnie Crigenes. The recorded video of the event can be viewed on YouTube.
Sustainable Development Goals
Written by Alessa Shainne Hostalero
Edited by Myra C. Almodiel and Anna Cañas-Llamas