The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) V in collaboration with the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO) of Albay, its line bureaus, Environmental Management Bureau (EMB), Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB), the Provincial Government of Albay and Local Government Unit (LGU) of Legazpi, national government agencies, non-government organizations and the local communities of Legazpi gather together for the International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) Day at Barangays Bonot, San Roque, Victory Village North, Victory Village South, Buraguis and Dapdap in Legazpi City, today, September 21, 2019.

The celebration program commenced at the Embarcadero de Legazpi where the City Mayor of Legazpi, Mayor Noel E. Rosal expressed his gratitude to the DENR for spearheading such activity that will greatly contribute to the protection and conservation of the coastal areas of Legazpi and to the environment.

Welcoming the participants for this year’s ICC Celebration, Marlene Francia, OIC Chief of the Conservation and Development Division (CDD) of DENR V said, “Nature can live without people; however, people cannot live without the nature.” The clean-up spawned immediately after the opening program, where the participating groups were divided to different clean-up sites. The participants were also provided monitoring forms, which were used to classify the collected wastes.

This year’s ICC with the theme, “Battle for Litter-Free Seas” gathered some 1179 kilos of wastes, primarily consisting of cigarette butts, metal and plastic bottle caps, food wrappers, and pack holders. The International Coastal Cleanup day is celebrated every 3rd Saturday of September by virtue of Presidential Proclamation no. 470 series of 2003.

With the conduct of the ICC, DENR Bicol aims to engage people and communities to remove trash and debris from beaches and waterways, identify the sources of litter and to change the behaviors that cause the pollution.###