by Saul Pa-a September 28, 2019 ECO CENTER. Victor Mercado, CENRO-Sta. Cruz officer-in-charge, tours the media at the Rooftop Ecological...
September 28, 2019
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| ECO CENTER. Victor Mercado, CENRO-Sta. Cruz officer-in-charge, tours the media at the Rooftop Ecological Center during the site visit on Wednesday (Sept. 25, 2019). The green building initiatives of CENRO is up for replication in other DENR offices and units across Calabarzon. (Photo by Saul E. Pa-a) |
STA. CRUZ, Laguna - The inadequate spaces in government offices for landscaped gardens have prompted the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)-Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) here to embark on green building initiatives, such as the establishment of a rooftop ecological center.
In an interview with the Philippine News Agency (PNA) on Wednesday, Victor Mercado, CENRO-Sta. Cruz officer-in-charge, said the CENRO rooftop ecological center located in Barangay Duhat here used available spaces in the office building for planting vegetables.
“It is actually utilizing available spaces in the office building or at home that prompted us to conceptualize the rooftop/deck garden where you could cultivate plant varieties from vegetables, spices, herbs, ornamental and medicinal plants,” Mercado said.
Mercado said DENR Secretary Roy Cimatu lauded the initiative, describing the center as a “very good practice” worthy of replication by other environmental provincial offices and community-based units in Region 4-A (Calabarzon).
He said the eco center is aimed to lessen the impact of climate change and global warming. The prototype gardens are now open to the public and educational tour groups.
“This is simply looking up on what else can we do in our own little ways, if there are no more spaces below where we can cultivate a garden and set up green technologies,” Mercado said.
The rooftop ecological center also showcases different ecological-friendly technologies such as composting and vermicomposting, hydroponics, vertical garden, 3R (reduce, reuse, recycle) through Material Recovery Facility (MRF), vegetables and forest/fruit trees seedlings production.
He said it aims to utilize rainfall for the plants; reduce building temperature due to the urban heat island effect; serve as learning laboratory for students, LGUs and communities; improve biodiversity; contribute in creation of green spaces; practice waste segregation; display of some eco-friendly technologies and production of seedlings for public distribution using recyclable materials.
“If we have no soil, we apply hydroponics or aqua-ponics, a method of growing plants in water-based nutrient-rich solution and the root system uses inert medium such as perlite, rockwool, clay pellets, peat moss or vermiculite,” Mercado said.
The MRF atop the building stores recyclable trashes such as discarded and shredded office documents and scratch papers, which go through mechanical and manual methods in feeding these to worms during vermidecomposition.
“We don’t spend as these are trashes like paper, food items, yard waste, worn-out tires, other materials from used tin cans, bottles, plastics. We don’t use industrial and hazardous waste. We showcase recyclable and reused materials,” he said. (PNA)
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