UST-Philippines, Chile biodiversity professionals deliver lectures

Science, Technology and Society (STS) Summit, as well as the first UST Chile-UST  Phils. Joint Symposium, with “Biodiversity, Conservation, and Management in the Time of Change” as the theme on April 20.

The experts shared their interdisciplinary approaches in using science-based pieces of evidence to address social issues related to biodiversity.

Prof. Cecilia B. Moran from UST Phils.-Manila Campus delivered a lecture on her recently concluded biodiversity assessment project in the Del Carmen Mangrove Ecosystem in Siargao Island, as it bids to become one of the country’s sites under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat. Meanwhile, her colleague Asst. Prof. Richard Thomas B. Pavia Jr., PhD discussed “Coral Reef Management Strategies in the Age of Climate Change.”

UST Chile’s Prof. Rodrigo Estevéz delivered a talk about the usage of multicriteria decision analysis as a tool in conserving marine habitats in his country, while compatriot Prof. Fabio Labra shared the way Earth observation systems and geographic information-system technology can be used to alleviate the invasive macrophyte problem in the Rio Cruces wetlands.

In 2018 UST’s Manila campus started to offer STS as a course under the General Education curriculum to inculcate science appreciation among the students—especially on the way science and scientific skills can be used to address pertinent social issues of this generation.

UST’s STS offering is unique in the manner it is anchored on the teachings of Pope Francis in his encyclical Laudato Si’, which champions the care for our planet.

The milestone led by the team of organizers of the STS summit fostered collaboration between the two UST institutions, and also inculcated the scientific values of working with nature to conserve biodiversity aligned with society’s needs.