ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY

ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY

Overview

Marine Conservation Philippines, MCP, strives to reduce the impact we’re causing on the local environment as well as our usage of natural resources. Additionally we aim to reduce our carbon footprint.

A number of buildings at MCP are powered exclusively through solar power. As we share the area we live in with a local solar power company, their testing facilities are put to actual use by us. As such many lights, fans, wifi etc. are powered by solar power. Our drinking water is pumped from deep wells by solar pumps too. Any power that is not solar comes from geothermal energy, and as such we have no power usage carbon footprint at all, (except for an emergency generator for longer black-outs.)

We recycle paper, cardboard, glass, metal, textiles and hard plastics from our own household. Additionally when we find these materials during beach or reef clean ups, they get recycled too.

From time to time volunteers with Marine Conservation Philippines take part in mangrove replanting and reforestation. Besides reducing siltation and taking up nutrients, mangroves are excellent carbon sinks, and our efforts to recreate these lost habitats help in a very real, hands-on, practical way to balance out the carbon emissions caused by flying to the Philippines for foreign volunteers. Volunteering with us, is thus not a case of merely helping locally, while causing global damage through carbon emissions – it actually helps both locally and globally.

2018-2019 Environmental Action Plan

The MCP action plan is a collaborative effort and the work of a handful of MCP interns, originally spearheaded by Amy Slack of Eunomia Research and Consulting UK. It touches on past achievements, current progress and areas that need attention. 
download PDF2018/2019 Environmental Action Plan

Last update: May 31st 2018

The Impact of Food Choices

There is no doubt that more people moving away from a meat-based diet would reduce the massive drain on water and other natural resources that meat-production currently causes. At MCP we do not serve a strict vegetarian diet (although we of course cook appropriately for volunteers who are vegetarian or vegan!) We do however  limit meat to twice a week as well as source it all locally. For environmental reasons we never serve beef or lamb. Also we very seldom serve seafood, but when we do, we buy directly from local fishermen, who we know are involved in the protection of the local MPAs and assure us that the catch is fished sustainably.

MCP is working towards self-sufficiency. We grow some produce ourselves and we run our own chicken coop for fresh eggs. Additionally the botanical garden compound we live in has many fruit trees and a mango orchard, that provides us with lots of high-quality organic fruits when in season.

Aided by a grant from Google, MCP launched a campaign website in 2020 with vegetarian recipes, specifically targeting search queries on traditional Filipino meat-filled recipes, only replacing them with easy to cook and tasteful alternative vegetarian recipes.

Start typing and press Enter to search