Tropical scorecard in central Philippines

At the end of February, Dr. Vanessa Vargas-Nguyen traveled to the Eastern Visayas region of central Philippines to help facilitate a training workshop on the Development of a Tropical Ecosystem Health (TrEcH) scorecard for the Pagbanganan River in Baybay, Leyte. The TrEcH project is funded through the internationalization program of the Visayas State University in partnership with the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science and the University of the Philippines. The workshop was attended by over 40 officials from various barangays (villages) and government agencies in the region. At the end of the workshop, participants identified values and threats of the river basin, potential indicators that can be used in the report card, and other stakeholders that needed to be included in the process. The participants and organizers also expressed their commitment to the success of the project and to continue the collaboration.

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