DENR leads Earth Day rites

Countries around the world will commemorate the "International Earth Day" on April 22 with the theme "Water for: Life". Today is the 33th year that this occasion is being celebrated after it was started by Sen. Gaylord Nelson of America in 1970.

As the theme implies, the celebration focuses on value of water and building awareness towards its conservation and wise utilization to ensure its availability in right quantity and quality at the right places and time. This theme supports the United Nations Declaration of 2003 as the "Year of Freshwater".

The country’s Earth Day Celebration is being spearheaded by the DENR with active participation of LGUs, non-government organizations (NGOs), other government agencies (OGAs) and civil society.

A wide array of activities nationwide, has been lined up for the month-long celebration. In April 22, DENR activities include a video presentation titled "Water for Life" which will be shown simultaneously in the lobbies of the DENR central office, bureaus, attached agencies, and in Regions IV-A, IV-B (Roxas Blvd.), and NCR (Congressional Ave.).

On the same day, the DENR in collaboration with LGUs/NGOs/OGAs, will undertake the following activities: Earth Day on the spot poster-making contest in Quezon Circle (to be participated in by 80 students and in coordination with Dep-Ed-NCR); Sagip Pasig Fluvial Parade (convergence of 500 NGOs); Marikina River Clean-up (Marikina City); and Shoreline Clean-up, Tree Planting and Alay Lakad sa Kalikasan (Muntinlupa City) Sagip Batis and Lecture Forum on Water (Quezon City); and Environmental Lectures on Water in various venues.

Towards the end of the month the following activities are lined up: Seminar on Environmental Laws sponsored by DENR-NCR for the Chinese Chamber of Com-merce, Run for the Environment on Earth Day at 6 a.m. on April 27 at the Luneta Grandstand by Bantay Kalikasan and the 9th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army; and Caloocan City in coordination with DENR will hold a Lecture forum on "Understanding Fresh Water and Its Importance".

All these activities are hoped to drum-up support towards sustainable use and management of the countries water resources.