TACLOBAN CITY – Tacloban City marks Earth Day 2025 with a series of environmental activities at the Paraiso Mangrove Eco Learning Park, a thriving marine and wildlife sanctuary established in the wake of Super Typhoon Yolanda.
Spearheaded by Pintakasi for Landscape Restoration Inc. and the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (ICSC), in partnership with the City Environment with other stakeholders, the event highlighted the importance of mangrove ecosystems in climate resilience and environmental conservation.
“At the Paraiso Eco Park integrated with the mangrove, we invited some youth to experience the ambience of the mangrove and to relate what is the effect and the importance of the mangrove in human living in the nearby communities,” PINTAKASI Inc. President Josephine Agustin shared.
Rehabilitated in 2015 through community-led rehabilitation efforts, City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) Chief Marito Barillo credited the mangrove forest in reducing the impact of Yolanda’s storm surge, prompting the survivors to protect and nurture the area to what it is today.
“Because of the barangay’s commitment to rehab this area, they were able to tie up with an organization from OISCA and with the DENR… There is a story in Paraiso where there was a ship and if there were no trees, it would have had more of an effect,” Barillo recounted.
He also emphasized the recommendations to formalize the 9-hectare sanctuary as the official urban green space for the city.
“Actually, ginrecommend namun ine para sa green space for the city… parang urban green space (Actually, we recommended this as a green space for the city… like an urban green space),” he added.
When asked about the park being a tourist destination, Barillo shared that the facility has started generating income for the fisherfolk who manage it, primarily through environmental fees collected from visitors. Barillo also emphasized that additional funding is still needed to enhance its facilities, improve infrastructure, and strengthen conservation efforts.
The park remains Tacloban’s only mangrove eco-tourism site, with limited public land, private land ownership, and minimal grassroots initiatives cited as key challenges in establishing similar areas elsewhere in the city.
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