SDG 15: Life on Land

PUP endeavors to safeguard terrestrial ecosystems by halting deforestation, restoring degraded lands, fighting desertification, and protecting biodiversity—from forests and wetlands to mountains and drylands—while respecting the rights of Indigenous peoples who steward these environments through its different localized initiatives. Our endeavors cover three areas: education, action, and policies.

Supporting land ecosystems through education

We have organized and supported different events aimed to promote conservation and sustainable utilisation of the land, including forests and wild land. This includes cataloguing, livelihood training, tourism conference, and other workshops.

Currently, PUP is working directly with concerned offices, groups and communities to maintain and extend existing ecosystems and their biodiversity, of both plants and animals, especially ecosystems under threat. We have standing projects on tree-planting and environmental partnerships with local government units to 𝖺𝗌𝗌𝖾𝗌𝗌 𝗉𝗋𝗂𝗈𝗋𝗂𝗍𝗒 𝗋𝗂𝗉𝖺𝗋𝗂𝖺𝗇 𝗉𝗅𝖺𝗇𝗍𝗌 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗆𝗈𝗇𝗂𝗍𝗈𝗋 𝗐𝖺𝗍𝖾𝗋 𝗊𝗎𝖺𝗅𝗂𝗍𝗒 𝗍𝗁𝗋𝗈𝗎𝗀𝗁 𝗉𝗁𝗒𝗍𝗈𝗉𝗅𝖺𝗇𝗄𝗍𝗈𝗇 𝗌𝗍𝗎𝖽𝗂𝖾𝗌.

More than partnerships, we are also using our own expertise to teach and offer educational programmes on ecosystems (looking at wild flora and fauna) for local and national communities. The Philippine Department of Science and Technology (DOST) commended our scholars on their initiatives. Equally, we offer programs on sustainable management of land for agriculture and for tourism.

Supporting land ecosystems through action

Lessons learned are transformed into action. We have specific policies to ensure the following:

conservation, restoration and sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems associated with the university, in particular forests, mountains and drylands
inclusion of local biodiversity into any planning and development process (e.g. construction of new buildings)
collaboration with the local community, e.g. through partnerships, in efforts to maintain shared land ecosystems