CLIMATE change affects people of all ages and races. It affects all living things in the world. Actually, threats of elimination of many living species have been evident, making international organizations to initiate mitigation and adaptation strategies.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), together with the Asian countries of Japan, China and South Korea, and Sweden, took students to a higher level of understanding and critical thinking to help save the rain forest from the effects of climate change through the fifth Asean Plus Three Junior Science Odyssey (APT-JSO). It was organized and held last week by the Department of Science and Technology-Science Education Institute (DOST-SEI) and the Asean Plus Three Center for the Gifted in Science (ACGS).
Participated by 13 year old to 15 year old students in groups of three from the participating countries, the annual event aims to encourage and challenge gifted students to excel in the fields of science and technology (S&T) and to hone them to be future scientists and engineers.
The event, which took place at the University of the Philippines Los Baños in Laguna, has climate change as its theme, focusing on the rain forest as, the university is nestled in the protected rain forest of Mount Makiling.
“It is a very nice theme [Climate Change and the Rainforest] to hold it in a protected forest area,” said Dr. Josette Biyo, director of DOST-SEI. “The forestry takes an important role in climate change.”
Climate change and rain-forest challenge
“Climate change is an issue that is cross-sectoral in the Asean region. Meaning, it’s not only a concern of the S&T sector, but we also deal with energy, environment and agricultural sector,” said Alexander Lim, head of the Science and Technology Division of the Asean Economic Community Department of the Asean Secretariat.
He added that, the role of the youth is very crucial, since the effects of this phenomenon are going to be the problems of their future. “We are preparing them to find practical solutions on how we mitigate the effects of climate change and prepare for disaster and the like,” Lim said.
The APT-JSO held activities, including field work, laboratory-skills assessment and project pitching. There was also a poster presentation, where groups of students from different countries showed how they can help in saving the rain forest and knowing its importance in climate change, such as carbon stock and agroforestry.
“The goal is to be ready for the negative impact of climate change,” Lim told the BusinessMirror in an interview. He added: “There are many initiatives that would assist all Asean member-states in becoming resilient to climate change, providing them to use other options: clean energy, and appropriate agriculture practices that could mitigate greenhouse emission.”
Youths’ response
While painting their advocacies on shirts, Donlaya Chuchan, 14, from Thailand expressed her enthusiasm in joining the event and told the BusinessMirror that she envisions the youth to cooperate in this concern on climate change.
“We need to protect [the environment] and help,” she said, adding that sharing her knowledge to different cultures would elevate the importance of her advocacy. “[We have] to plant more trees and everyone should help the world [in mitigating climate change].”
Participant Aime Lamoste from the Philippines told the BusinessMirror that she wants to be an ecologist, and feels the need to raise this awareness to her peers as early as now.
“I think my role in saving the rain forest is to share my knowledge to others to conserve resources that come from the rain forests,” Lamoste said.
Sweden’s delegate coach Patrik Lundqvist said this kind of activity, besides honing the skills of the students, can give more opportunities and network to the Asean Plus Three community.
“We think it is important to participate, because we feel that the topic of the conference is important for the whole world. We also think that our students should meet the best of the best to compete, and that networking between the countries is very important,” he told the BusinessMirror.
Although Sweden does not have any rain forests, Lundqvist said this activity challenges his team to research into rain forests. His students proposed agroforestry as an effective mitigation strategy to uphold the theme of the event.
“Agroforestry, where you mix forest and agriculture, has great benefits against climate change, for the rain forest and for the rest of the biodiversity it has,” he said.
Looking forward
With 22 years of experience, the chairman of ACGS, Prof. Sang Chun Lee, said, “This event is very important because they’ll make a good solution to many problems of today at a very young age.”
“This is also a very good opportunity to meet students and teachers and create a network and team of gifted students in the region,” he told the BusinessMirror.
Sang said scholarships are also in the way through the ACGS to encourage students, “to stay in the area of science and technology.”
The competition paves the way for students to hone their scientific skills and encourage them to take the scientific path in order to help make solutions in the pressing problems of society. Although there is no monetary prize for the winners, the top 3 teams participating in the APT-JSO will receive medals and trophies.
Also for the first time, the winner will represent the Asean region in the world science competitions in the United States and Europe.
Biyo said the aim of the DOST-SEI is that “through these activities, we encourage students that have high marks on science and math aptitude tests to take Stem-related courses in college.” Stem stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Biyo noted that less than 20 percent of high-school graduates choose to take Stem courses in universities. “Our country will not grow if we would lack scientists,” she said.
The results of the competition will also be presented to an international board meeting, where senior officials of the Asean community will look into the recommendations.
Lim told the BusinessMirror: “If possible, they [Asean] could provide support for follow-up activities since we are now very active in promoting talent mobility, providing scholarship, training and internship not only for the teachers but also for the young students, so we’ll see what will come out of the recommendation of this event.”
The next host of the APT-JSO would be Vietnam.
Image credits: Stephanie Tumampos