Santander as one of the municipalities in the province of Cebu in the region VII area within the Central Visayas islands known on its way to a development that is balanced and nondestructive to its environment with an economy based on sustainable fishing, farming, trading and tourism. Lloyd G. Yosoya, The Youth Camp SEAklab Project Manager and Alyza T. Tan, The Youth Camp SEAklab Project Coordinator led the Environmental Scanning including the 6 coastal barangays of Santander last February 4-6, 2019.

CCEF's  Project SEAklab- ---“ Strengthening Environmental Advocacy through MPA Knowledge, Livelihood Training And Constituency Building”  covers an Information, Education and Communication (IEC) Campaign on Marine Conservation, Environmental laws, Solid Waste Management, and Ecopreneurial Best Practices that will immensely benefit the Coastal Barangays of Santander, Cebu. The mission of educating and empowering youths with leadership skills, knowledge in wildlife and fisheries as well as marine and land stewardship, and to encourage our future leaders to become conservation ambassadors for a sustained natural resource legacy.

The Youth Camp SEAklab is open to the youth who are members of fishing households and are locals of areas nearby. As future actors and implementers of long-term CRM plans, they must be well equipped enough with the right conservation attitudes as stewards of their natural resources. Asserted that the youth camp not only makes young people learn, understand and have a positive attitude about the protection of natural resources and environment, but also raises their awareness of the importance of the coast and the appropriate use of its resources while encouraging people in the coastal barangays of Santander to live with the coastal areas in a balanced and sustainable manner.
This will help build a solid network of modern young people who will grow up to be a major force of for the conservation of coast that are of great benefit to the Municipality of Santander. More importantly, the SEAklab youth camp is also focused on boosting awareness of intensive protection and conservation of the environment.

JOHN KERVE CAPUNO