Staff reporter
BATAC CITY—Mariano Marcos
State University president Shirley C. Agrupis in this city has asked the help of
members of the National Panel of Technical Experts (NPTE) of the Climate Change
Commission (CCC) for the funding of seven development programs, which might
lead to the transformation of MMSU into a “dream university”.
Ms. Agrupis said this kind of
university will surely help the CCC in its mandate to minimize the adverse
effects of climate change and, at the same time, serves as a springboard
towards national development.
The seven proposed projects
are: 1) strengthening the development of a smart-farm green and innovative university;
2) establishment of a National Research Center for Climate Change; 3) green
wall model project for climate change mitigation; 4) establishment of renewable
energy engineering model farm; 5) intensification of the
One-Town-One-Technology (OTOTech) approach for people and community empowerment
towards sustainable Ilocandia development amidst climate change; 6)
strengthening stakeholders’ adaptive capacity to climate change
for improved governance of agriculture, forestry, and natural resources in
Laoag City river basin; and 7) development of a climate informed – crop
monitoring and forecasting system (CI-CMFS) for risk management in agriculture
in the Philippines.
“In MMSU, these flagship
projects are in line with our research, development and extension (RDE)
programs which help address climate change mitigation and adaptation. We have
been doing climate change-related activities especially in bioenergy and we
have a team that is very active in doing climate change mitigation and
adaptation strategies because this phenomenon is negatively affecting our
agriculture and fisheries efforts,” she said.
Ms. Agrupis also presented to
the CCC some projects in line with solar and renewable energy initiatives to
build a green energy landscape in the university. One is the use of electronic
jeepneys or e-jeeps run by solar energy, and the use of solar panels that serve
as roofs of five college buildings.
Responding to Ms. Agrupis’ presentation, Atty. Efren MG Bascos, CCC chief legal officer, promised to send to MMSU the CCC’s Chief of Higher Education Institution partnership
division so that the agency can coordinate on the proposed projects be
supported.
“We will consider your
projects in the cabinet cluster meeting for adaptation and mitigation,
especially on the green wall project you want to develop,” Mr. Bascos said,
adding that he wants to get a good proposal from MMSU on this project,
including the CI-CMFS.
Other MMSU aggressive RDE projects
In line with aggressive agriculture for RDE, the MMSU has
already produced and patented some bio-fertilizer and bio-pesticides for crops.
Likewise, to support the green-energy landscape, the university is offering
Professional Science Masters in Renewable Energy Engineering (PSMREE) degree in
the Graduate School.
“The main justification why
the Commission on Higher Education approved the offering of PSMREE in MMSU is
because Ilocos Norte is now tagged as emerging renewable energy province of the
Philippines,” Ms. Agrupis said, adding that the province is now the host of
three large wind generators located in Bangui, Pagudpud, and Burgos towns,
aside from the solar farms in Currimao and Burgos.
In terms of RDE initiative to
maintain the clean and green environment in the campus, the university now have
the clean air pollution management project in partnership with Kansas State
University.
“We have our air quality
monitoring laboratory at the Crops Research Laboratory and we claim to be the
only SUC in Region 1 to have this ambient air quality monitoring equipment,”
she said.
At present, MMSU in
partnership with the Ilocos Norte government is set to launch the green tourism
development model using OTOTech. The main concept of this program is to deploy MMSU researchers in the community, find the
community of interest, mix the community of practice with little S&T
intervention, and enhance it with existing technology towards a cleaner and
greener environment.
“The reason why I am very
aggressive in presenting these projects is that we aim to become a smart-farm
university (SFU) and the first SUC to become energy self-sufficient. We all
have the reason to dream for that because we are surrounded with renewable
energy sources,” Ms. Agrupis explained.
“What we want to do is to
enhance and integrate all these climate-based RDE initiative to establish an
SFU, which is a systematic modality application of research and technologies in
fostering appropriate results-based management for a green university,” she
added as she underscored the proposal is ready to be turned-over to CCC for
endorsement to funding agencies.
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