Sustainable PH destinations

The Philippines is grabbing the world’s attention for its sustainability efforts.

Two local municipalities and one second class component city made it to the 2018 Sustainable Destinations Top 100, a list that celebrates the efforts of destinations towards a more responsible and sustainable tourism.

The list—which was made available in December last year on the website of non-profit group Green Destinations—included Bojo, Aloguinsan in Cebu; Lio Estate, El Nido in Palawan; and San Carlos City in Negros Occidental.

“The Top 100 initiative aims to recognize tourism destinations that have worked hard to make a difference and take sustainability seriously. Nevertheless, no destination is fully sustainable. In all selected destinations important issues remain to be solved,” a statement by Green Destinations read.

This was the fourth time that the Sustainable Destinations Global Top 100 competition was organized by 10 leading sustainable tourism organizations and networks.

Included were 100 destinations from 42 countries, which were assessed based on 30 core criteria including cultural heritage conservation, tourism policy, waste separation, nature protection, energy consumption reduction, protection of people, animal ethics, protection of landscape and scenery, real estate exploitation, promoting local products and services, wastewater treatment, and respecting authenticity, among other criteria.

Here are those three Philippine destinations and why they deserve a spot on the list, according to Green Destinations.

https://mycebu.ph

Bojo, Aloguinsan Cebu Province

Bojo is a fishing village in the Midwest part of Cebu which is within the biggest protected marine area in the Philippines.

The destination puts great effort in protecting the nature by implementing various projects, such as mangrove preservation and restoration projects. It also develops ecotourism and the local community initiative, the Bojo River Cruise, received an award for Best Community-based Tourism Initiative in Asia Pacific in the 2015 UN Tourism INSPIRE Awards.

The Bojo Aloguinsan Ecotourism Association, which runs the river cruise based at the Bojo River, is committed to sustainable consumption and production. It is guided by the non-extractive, non-consumptive philosophy. Its mission is to protect the river and Tanon Strait, attract tourists and earn supplemental income.

https://www.lio.ph/

Lio Estate, El Nido Palawan Province

Lio is the country’s first sustainable tourism estate development. Located in El Nido and vetted by travel experts as one of the world’s most beautiful islands, local economies depend mainly on tourism. The challenge was to pursue a tourism model promoting environmental stewardship and community engagement.

Lio Tourism Estate is a top destination for the protection of nature, and landscape and scenery. It is the first masterplanned integrated, mixed use, and ecologically sustainable tourism destination.

Its mother company, Ayala Land Inc, has had a long history of successful masterplanned integrated, mixed use communities, overcoming the challenges that come with it.

The development is an iterative process of continuous surveys and re-alignments because of its commitment to keep the landscape as natural as possible. Acknowledging ecosystems services and aligning with nature make for excellent site resiliency.

Preserving waterways, mangrove stands, and surrounding forests will protect it against floods. Its decision to establish 40-meter beach setbacks instead of 20, as required by law, makes it better equipped for storm surges. The commitment to native vegetation also saves it costly landscaping inputs.

The projected outcome of these preparations is a community that will exist for a long time and will provide sustained opportunities for customers to connect with nature.

San Carlos City Negros Occidental

San Carlos is a second class component city in Negros Occidental. Its natural resources include an island with two barangays, protected seascapes, protected natural parks, numerous caves, waterfalls and beautiful landscapes.

What makes it unique is the proximity of the mountain and beach destinations within the city where the renewable energy facilities are.

San Carlos has always been an advocate in clean and green practices. “Vamos San Carlos; Where Green is Go” is the city’s slogan. It summarizes the city’s thrust towards tourism progress and progress in general. Its citation as one of the Asean Community’s Environmentally Sustainable Cities (ESC) and the Asean Clean Tourist City seal/award in which only three in the Philippines got the same recognized San Carlos’ sustainability efforts towards sustainable tourism.

In order to reduce the environmental impacts of transportation in the city, “pedicab” is mainly used, a human-powered means of transport.

San Carlos is a top destination for community empowerment actions and for the proper management of visitor behavior at the sensitive sites. The city ensures community empowerment by creating people’s organizations (PO) and associations so that residents shall act as stewards of the destination, as well as proper visitor behavior by establishing control measures in the form of regulations, policies and ordinances which are being placed in public areas, so that visitors are guided to their limitations when visiting the city.