TUGUEGARAO CITY, Cagayan (PIA) - - The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Region 2 has organized youth groups in Quirino and Isabela provinces to serve as the agency’s partners in the protection and conservation of natural resources. 

Recently, over 700 student leaders were enlisted by the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO) Quirino to be engaged in wildlife and forest protection in the province. 

Mariam Frances Malana, PENR officer, said the enlisted young partners are members of the Youth for Environment in Schools Organizations from different schools in the six municipalities of the province.

“These students were oriented on salient features of Wildlife Resources Protection and Conservation Act in a series of symposiums recently,” Malana said.

She also said the group was given lectures on the importance, benefits, and threats to biodiversity and protected areas, the Landscape and Wildlife Indicator (LAWIN) system, drone imaging, and other innovations in the monitoring and protection of the environment and natural resources.

During the training, Malana emphasized the crucial role of the youth in preserving the environment and the importance of technology and innovation in science-based environmental governance.

"At your young age, we are empowering you to become active stewards of the environment because you are our future leaders," said Malana.

The young environmentalists of Quirino province undergo training in environment and natural resources monitoring and protection schemes by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources Quirino. (Photo courtesy of PENRO Quirino)

In Isabela, the DENR, through the Municipal Environment and Natural Resources Office (MENRO), organized the Divilacan Student Advocates for Forest and Environment Resilience (D-SAFER), a youth organization in Divilacan town committed to conserving marine biodiversity and the forest zone within the town that is covered by the Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park. 

Arturo Umengan, MENR officer, said the young environmentalists have crafted their action plan prioritizing marine biodiversity conservation, native tree growing, and waste management. 

“We need to make the minds of these young students in the shape of environmental leadership as the legacy of protecting the Sierra Madre will be passed on to them,” he said. 

Randy Sogelio, president of D-SAFER, said among their priority advocacies is the conservation of marine turtles that maintain the productivity of the coral reef ecosystem. 

“We will conduct information drives to campaign sea turtle conservation and encourage our fisherfolk to be part of this campaign,” he said. 

The DENR also urged other provincial and municipal environment officers to establish youth environmentalist groups in their respective areas to augment the force of the forest guards and environmental protection advocates in the region. (OTB/PIA Region 2)