International Coastal Cleanup Environmental Summit 2018: Youth Empowerment

The International Coastal Cleanup (ICC), a global movement celebrated yearly on the 3rd day of September, with more than 100 countries participating worldwide including the Philippines, as they bring together the community towards a common objective of collecting and documenting the trash littering the coastline. Due to a growing need to address this issue of marine litter and beach cleanup alone is not enough, they also have  the ICC Environmental Summit, a supplement to the annual beach cleanup that took place from September 27 to September 28 at the Subic Bay Exhibition and Convention Center (SBECC). 

The Philippines ranked #1 in 2017 with the highest number of volunteers and sad to say, the country is ranked #3 as the biggest dumper of plastics in the ocean. Plastic debris remains a budding concern in the marine environment, according to the Ocean Trash Index, the world's largest item-by-item, location-by-location database of trash found in the near-shore environments as a result of the data submitted by all the volunteers of ICC.

Top 5 Most Commonly Collected Items:

• Cigarette butts
• Food wrappers
• Plastic beverage bottles
• Plastic bottle caps
• Plastic grocery bags

We are worried about the trash, but unfortunately only few are doing some actions. It saddens me that seeing a lot of trash means that a lot of people either are not educated on how to segregate or are not really concerned about our environment. It is time for each and every one of us to be aware of how these trashes affects the whole world and how we could help from our own household—separate your food waste from dry materials, then from there you may segregate which of the dry wastes are still recyclable. Let us start from our home, and the rest will follow.

The Youth Empowerment Symposium #YES18), launched this year focusing in empowering our youth by tapping into the best practices of top Filipinos and global organizations, inspiring our next generation of leaders to follow-suite and provide the tools that they will need to continue our quest towards a more sustainable future. Together, they can come up with viable solutions for pressing environmental matters and approach new, peaceful and constructive ways of problem-solving.

"Change Heroes" is this year's theme of the 4th summit, a challenge for the youth – millennial, the most powerful force of our future – to be an instrument for change, to spark social consciousness formation towards social change, changing the way we view the world, unleashing our inner heroes, and become better builders of our nation. 

The symposium was attended by youths, mainly the newly elected SK officials from Olongapo, Zambales and Bataan together with experienced executives and organization leaders that focused on finding more efficient solutions that the cleanliness of our beaches will continue far beyond the cleanup activity.

This event is organized by:

Lighthouse Marina Resort Legacy Foundation • Make a Difference (MAD) Travel • Philippine Coast Guard Auxiliary 

Co-presented by:

Coca-Cola Philippines • Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority • The Lighthouse Marina Resort • Globe Telecoms 

In cooperation with:

Philippine Alliance for Recycling and Materials Sustainability • Subic Bay Freeport Chamber of Commerce • International Yachting Fellowship of Rotarians • Miss Scuba Philippines • UP Marine Biological Society • Dakila • Seed4com • Oceana Philippines

Supported by:

Provincial Government of Zambales • Municipal of Olongapo • Provincial Government of Bataan • Department of Environment and Natural Resources • National Coach Watch Council • Department of Tourism • Philippine Coastguard • PNP Maritime Group • Department of Inetrior and Local Government • National Youth Commission

Sponsored by

Ayala Harbor Point Mall • Anvaya Cove • PLDT Subictel • Think + Talk Creative Communications • VitalStrats Creative Solutions • Standard Insurance • Nanofixit