Community Days are held by CCC in association with a local Barangay, who’s coastal waters have been recently surveyed, providing CCC with an opportunity to disseminate results and explain the reasons for our surveys as well building strong relationships with the local user group. 

Strong relationships, that generate support, not only for our efforts, but also for the implementation of marine spatial management plans, are essential for any successful conservation programme. During these community days, our project staff present videos and pictures collected from our surveys, as well as discussing some very basic results. Our staff will also use this opportunity to introduce basic marine spatial management plans, such as MPAs; what they are, why do we use them, and what are expected outputs? 

Combined with fun, engaging and educational games from local children, as well as one-to-one meetings with the Barangay’s local council, and captain, they are an excellent way ensure that CCC receive support for their actions but, more importantly, to ensure that local stakeholders understand, support, and receive, the benefits from our actions. 

We also deliver our recommendation reports and summary reports during these events. 

The Seastar Environmental Award Scheme (SEAS) is an educational programme designed by CCC that aims to develop sustainable partnerships with schools whilst establishing an environmental ethos. We recognise the importance of developing an environmentally aware culture amongst younger and future generations to ensure the protection of the local environment and its resources. SEAS enables CCC to be more active within local communities by working directly with children and teachers. Through SEAS, we aim to inspire, raise awareness and increase accessibility to educational resources that pertain to marine and coastal conservation.

Throughout the SEAS, children and teachers are introduced to a range of topics: coral reef ecology; the importance of coral reefs; coral reef communities; food chains and webs; threats to coral reefs; coral reef conservation; MPAs; marine spatial planning; marine resource management; and sustainability. The SEAS curriculum is directed towards elementary students, however can be tailored to suit any age class through the addition or removal of specific components. This programme entails CCC staff members and volunteers going into local schools, where CCC are currently active undertaking survey work and delivery the necessary educational materials. The delivery of SEAS constitutes a three-tiered (Bronze, Silver, and Gold) educational programme. Within each tier, the students of the attending class must complete specified objectives to progress to the subsequent tier. 

For example; to achieve the 'Bronze Seastar', attendees must be delivered introductory lessons on coral reefs. To achieve the 'Silver Seastar', follow up lessons on the marine environment will be undertaken alongside the school children hosting a Marine Awareness Day within the school. The achieve the much coveted ‘Gold Seastar’, the attendees of SEAS must organise and host their own environmental campaign within their local area. 

The Reef Rangers initiative is an immersive activity for children from schools with Southern Leyte to attend CCC’s base in Napantao. The activity is run throughout the day and provides children with opportunities to learn about coral reef conservation and coral ecology, putting their newly acquired knowledge into practice during snorkelling activities on our house reef of Napantao. The house reef is full of macrofauna, coral and amazing shapes and colours, and on occasions, the Reef Rangers are even lucky enough to come face to face with Whale Sharks! 

Whilst Reef Rangers is focused on conservation-education, it is designed to be fun, practical and immersive. Many of the children attending the Reef Rangers events, despite having stunning reefs on their doorstep, have never snorkelled before. Therefore, by not only providing the opportunity for them to take the plunge, ensuring a personal connection to the marine world.

Successful conservation, education and inspiration go hand-in-hand; making the Reef Rangers essential for the prosperity of Southern Leyte’s coral reefs and marine resources. As Reef Rangers is held at CCC’s base, it is a fantastic way for staff, volunteers, and the children to integrate, share stories and be involved with worthwhile and inspiring activities.

Eco-bricks are a new, environmental-focused initiative that we have incorporated into our community outreach approaches. The Eco-brick was created by the Global Eco-brick Alliance, and was founded in Northern Philippines, in 2012. Since then, the use of Eco-bricks, in one of the world’s largest plastic polluting countries, has spread rapidly. Because of this, its more common to find the children attending our workshops demonstrating to our volunteers and staff how to build an Eco-brick! 

Eco-bricking is the process of collecting single-use plastic waste, such as sweet wrappers and crisps packets, and tightly packing them into collected water bottles. The plastic bottles are then contained within concrete. As the plastic is tightly packed, it provides immense stability to the plastic bottle enabling their respective use in construction, they’ve even been used to build modular furniture! 

Whilst we understand that Eco-bricks are, by no means, the remedy to our unprecedented problem with Ocean plastics but we decided to adopt the approach as a means of promoting the ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Repair, Refuse’. Within this 5-step process, we promote Eco-bricks as the, 6th final option. Through the movement of Eco-bricks, we are able to connect with members of local communities, increasing social responsibility to mitigate against Ocean plastics, and where necessary, to limit their introduction into the marine environment. 

Throughout our survey schedule, we always make time for a beach clean! Our beach cleans range in size, from quick 30-minute cleans during surface intervals to large-scale, community-wide beach cleans on World Oceans Day, with our neighbouring municipality Liloan. 

Our large beach cleans are great events where the entire community turns out to assist. In more recent events, we have had over 250 attendees from local schools, government departments, the police and fire department! With celebrations at the end of the end and asking people to make pledges, they're a great way to spread the message of responsible waste management and the impacts of Ocean plastics!

On previous events, we've collected over 1,000kg of trash that would have been destined for the Ocean. 

Bantay Dagats are marine wardens, elected by members of their home Barangay. Their role within the Barangay is to manage, monitor and enforce the ordinance established for the Barangay's MPA. This can include reporting fisherfolk that fish within the No-Take Area or collecting MPA fees when dive groups, such as CCC, dive within the MPA. 

It is an important role, but because the Bantay Dagats are elected, they can often hold the position with minimal training. Recognising this, we host Bantay Dagat training where we invite the local police force to contribute via a workshop that outlines the rights and jurisdictions of Bantay Dagats. We also host educational lessons that aim to build knowledge on the importance of MPAs, why they are used and their expected outputs (if managed correctly). When funding is available, we also provide dive training to Bantay Dagats, enabling them to autonomously monitor the ecological systems being protected by the MPA. 

The Scholarship Programme is a unique initiative practiced by CCC. It aims to increase capacity within the Philippines through immersive, practical training; providing stakeholders with the tools and skills to successfully manage their marine resources sustainably. It is appreciated that our reach within the Philippines is limited and thus the Scholarship Programme ensures the development of conservation advocates that will carry and implement our ethos throughout the country. 

The Scholarship Programme provides opportunities to national Filipino students and community members that can demonstrate a clear intent and passion for conservation, and a wish to pursue this passion further. The opportunity to attend is available to one Filipino national every month following a rigorous application process. Over a four-week period, scholars are integrated amongst international volunteers. During this period, scholars receive all of the training experienced by paying, international volunteers free of-charge (excluding costs of personal insurance). This includes gaining a SCUBA PADI Open and Advanced Open Water certification, First Aid training through CCC’s Expedition Care Programme (ECP) and CCC’s Skills Development Programme (SDP).

Whilst undertaking the programme, scholars form an integral part of our scientific survey team, implementing proposed MPA assessments. Upon completion of the Scholarship Programme, scholars will hold certifications, knowledge and skills in coral reef ecology, marine resource management, species identification, data collection methods and data assimilation techniques; all relevant tools to enable proactiveness within their resident community.

To read more about our Scholarship Programme, click here.