The Local Government of Guiuan, Eastern Samar, in collaboration with the University of Santo Tomas Graduate School Center for Conservation of Cultural Property and Environment in the Tropics (UST GS CCCPET) initiated the Guiuan Seastainability Program (GSP) on November 6, 2021.
Under the leadership of Guian Mayor Annaliza Kwan, the program is a multi-sectoral, multi-disciplinary initiative towards marine heritage conservation and sustainable development.
The seminal project under the GSP is the Dumyang: A Community-based Mapping Project for the Sustainable Development of Fisheries and Coastal Tourism of the 45 coastal barangays of Guiuan. Dumyang is a Waray-waray word for bountiful fish harvest. The 75 mappers are composed of fish catch enumerators, teachers, youth, and non-government organization workers.
The project will train and educate the stakeholders of coastal communities on the conservation and sustainable utilization of coastal resources; document and build community-based inventory of coastal resources, traditions, and technologies for sustainable utilization and development programs on fisheries and tourism; and obtain a more accurate understanding of the needs of the community in the use, development, and conservation of coastal resources.
This initiative will help in the formulation of coastal development programs to diversify the income of fishing communities and conserve the coastal resources. A deeper appreciation for the coast and sea is also one of the aspects to be developed in this initiative.
The coastal mapping activity will start on January 2022 and continue for five months. The CCCPET will conduct the activity flexibly hybridizing two formats – face-to-face and the Heritage Online Mapping Experience (HOME) program.
The Guiuan Seastainability Program is also in partnership with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Guiuan Marine Resource Protected Landscape and Seascape (GMRPLS).
The Local Government of Guiuan is the first LGU to conduct a comprehensive coastal heritage mapping documentation.
