Press Attaché Kurt Hoyer of the United States Embassy in Manila pushed for wider reporting of success stories on the environment to spark change and help Filipinos get involved in the conservation and protection of the environment.

Hoyer was the guest of honor and speaker during the launching in Dumaguete City yesterday of the Silliman University Research and Environment News Service or SU RE News, a news service funded by the U.S. Embassy Manila.

He said the U.S. has had a long connection with working for the protection of the environment in the Philippines, dating back to several decades ago and with most projects under the U.S. Agency for International Development.

He described the Philippines as “uniquely placed, both in terms of the threat, and the solutions and response to those threats to the environment”.

Hoyer cited many problems related to the environment the Philippines is facing, such as trafficking of endangered animal species, overfishing, forest denudation, and destruction to coral reefs.

He said reporting on these problems and threats will help the Filipinos understand the problems and even help solve these at their own levels, he said. The first step is knowledge, and it is by the sharing of knowledge through research and reporting that people are fed with the correct information that would then help them understand the environmental challenges in the country and in the world, he added.

He added that Dumaguete City is somehow a center of “many environmentally interesting sites and locations", he added.

Although the initial seed money was only for one year to help jumpstart the news service, Hoyer said the U.S. Embassy might be able to provide additional funding, if needed.

The project proponent/coordinator of SU RE News is Celia Acedo, a member of the faculty of the College of Mass Communication of SU.

Present at the launching were National Scientist Angel Alcala, who heads the SU Angelo King Center for Research and Environmental Management, Yolly de Guzman, information specialist of the U.S. Embassy Manila, faculty members of SU College of Communication, local government officials, representatives from other schools and non-government organizations, and the media.*JFP

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