Mangrove watchers matter

As private and public stakeholders intensify concerted actions to preserve and protect fragile mangrove forests nationwide, people’s organizations (PO) are thrusted to the front of sustaining such vital ecosystems. After all, they directly depend on the so-called blue carbon for food, livelihood and protection from typhoons.

Roberto Ballon, founder and chairman of the Kapunungan sa mga Gagmay’ng Mangingisda sa Concepcion (KGMC), a PO in Zamboanga Sibugay, stressed this reality.

“When we protect mangroves, seagrasses, and tidal marshes, we also protect our fishing grounds — making sure our families and the next generations have an abundant, safe, and healthy future,” he said, highlighting the link between ecosystem health and community well-being.

It’s no wonder community organizations have evolved as frontliners in mangrove conservation. Last 28 February 2026, youth-led marine conservation group Mangrove Matters PH conducted a planting activity in Siit, Siaton, Negros Oriental, with volunteer students and teachers. MMPH sourced the 750 mangrove seedlings planted from its partner, the Siit–Palinpinon Mangrove Conservation Walk Association (SIPAMACOWA).

SIPAMACOWA president and community leader Evelyn Bucad said the seedlings came from a nursery of the organization. The seeds come from trees in the six-hectare Tambobo Bay mangrove forest.

Bucad herself guided the volunteer who planted the seedlings in Siit along the Tambobo Bay.

Aside from being active in mangrove reforestation, she and her mother have been protecting the mangroves, where her family sources seafoods like crabs and shells for food, in the past 40 years.

Bucad serves as a watcher, reporting to the barangay and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources people who cut mangrove trees for use as construction material. However, she admitted that authorities fail to act on her complaints.

Bucad is also active in supporting other cause-oriented groups like MMPH, whose leader, Leo Anthony Castro, is the communications lead of the Global Mangrove Aliiance-Philippines, co-organizer of the recent Philippine Mangrove Conference 2026.

Bucad remains vigilant in protecting the Tambobo mangroves as development encroaches and motorized bancas sheltering in the coastal forest leak fuel into the waters.

She also hopes to repair the dilapidated boardwalk used by visitors in viewing the scenic mangrove areas.