Between January and February 2020, before the COVID-19 spread, the association engaged in an international project in collaboration with the local association of the village of Sawang, in the Philippines, Province of Zamboanga of Norte. For 20 days we lived in the local community working in the morning with fishermen and collaborating in the afternoon in the secondary school of the village.
Objectives of the experience:
- living in a community where the daily rhythms were still linked to tradition.
- To start an international collaboration between associations and with “Jose Rizal Memorial State University”.
- collecting data for research on climate change; the aim of the research was to gather information on the public perception of climate change and its effects by local communities. Understand how communities affected by the impact of growing harmful natural events react to this situation and what they expect or fear as they look to the future. We wanted to collect data on good practices of adaptation and resilience to understand what influences their choices and how.
It has been important for us to study how culture, traditions and religion can influence the reactions to these events and the choice to migrate or stay in these affected areas. It was essential to be able to interview the captains of the villages and the rector of the University; the meeting with the head of agricultural and fish development of the municipality of Sibutad was also very formative, which has allowed a complete vision of all the interventions made over the years and planned for the future to safeguard the natural balance of the sea.
