High school students of The Philippine Global School in Abu Dhabi apply their learnt sustainability theories through their Biodome, aquaponics project.

Mariecar Jara-Puyod, Senior Reporter

Aquaponics and how its ecosystem helps promote a better understanding of the inter-play of nature has placed a Philippine school in the capital among the 30 finalists at the 12th edition of the “Zayed Sustainability Prize 2020.”

It is the second opportunity for The Philippine Global School (TPGS) to compete in the global competitions, the first being at the 11th edition and whose winners were announced in 2019.

“We already received an email about our being a finalist from the organizers,” PM-ed school principal Lizabeth Comia to Gulf Today on Tuesday.

TPGS competes in the Global High Schools-Middle East and Africa Category alongside the Umm Al-Arab School also in the UAE, and the Al Amal Junior High School in Morocco.

The aquaponics is a consequent project the four-year-old school had undertaken after placing second in 2016 and grabbing the “Best Green Audit Category-Private Schools” of Abu Dhabi’s “The Best Green Audit for Sustainable Schools Excellence Awards” in 2017.

In those competitions, TPGS was acknowledged for being able to increase its green space from 10 per cent to 75 per cent with all its stakeholders helping reduce carbon footprint through creative and innovative schemes, apart from their entry—the biodome with its solar panels.

TPGS-High School Department Science coordinator Cecilia Santos said the aquaponics project was to “raise the level of our biodome’s usefulness, to cover more learning outcomes that can promote Science, Social Studies, Technology and Livelihood Education, as well as Moral and Values Education.”

The aquaponics was built through a series of lectures and workshops for the students, administration and faculty members, in collaboration with Bayanihan Council, the umbrella organization of all Filipino social/business/religious/hobby/professional clubs under the auspices of the Philippine Embassy.

Aquaponics is the combination of aquaculture and hydroponics whereby fish and crustaceans with carefully chosen fruits and vegetables, symbiotically thrive in a sustainable environment primarily for food security.

“We want to address the scarcity of healthy food produced in the backyard. We want to help instil among our students the responsibility they must own towards a safe and secure food production,” said Santos.

She added: “If we can put up an extension to this project, we can hold classes, sessions and workshops for a greater number of students at the same time. We will have greater vegetable/crop and fish harvest. We can secure fresh food harvest in a limited space.”

Comia and Santos said an inspiration was the grand prize winning of the Philippines’ Muntinlupa National High School (Muntinlupa City, Metro Manila)  at the Zayed Sustainability Prize-Global High Schools-East Asia & Pacific Region Category 2019” for its “Green Algae (Chlorella) Microfarm” programme. 

Among the 30 is another Philippine entity, competing in the Health Category is the Alternative Indigenous Development Foundation, a non-government organization (NGO) in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental (Western Visayas) province, into the development of technology and combining this with social enterprise and community advocacies for the workers in the sugar plantations and their families.

In 2015, the Litre of Light global NGO of Filipino environmentalist-entrepreneur Illac Diaz that has provided electricity to millions of households in some parts of the world through the re-use of plastic bottles and technological innovation was also adjudged among the winners. The Zayed Sustainability Prize, an evolution of the Zayed Future Energy Prize, is the UAE’s pioneering global award in sustainability and a tribute to the legacy of the late founding father of the UAE, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.

Established in 2008, this annual award recognises and rewards the achievements of those who are driving impactful, innovative and inspiring sustainability solutions across five distinct categories: Health, Food, Energy, Water and Global High Schools.