By: Hazel A. Castillo
Community Extension Coordinator, CTELA
On May 23, 2025, the students of Baguio Central University, Baguio City, initiated by the officers of Logichemia Club, the Bachelor of Elementary Education (BEED) Club, the Values Education students, and the CTELA- SGO Officers, led by their governor, Mr. Jordan Chalapas, conducted a regular Ring Weeding activity at Busol Watershed, Ambiong, Baguio City. The University Community Extension Coordinator, Ms. Arlene A. Mintas, headed this community extension activity, together with the CTELA Community Extension Coordinator and LogiChemia adviser, Ms. Hazel A. Castillo.
This outreach activity reflects the University’s ongoing environmental responsibility, organized in partnership with the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) Baguio. It specifically aims to protect individual trees or seedlings from being choked out by weeds and to maximize their growth and yield. By clearing a clean, circular zone directly around the base of a plant, you ensure that it does not have to fight neighboring vegetation for survival. It is a highly efficient agricultural technique that focuses labor and resources only where the plant needs them most. This is done once every semester of the school year and is participated in by the Baguio Central University students, initiated by the College of Teacher Education and Liberal Arts (CTELA) students.
Ultimately, this community activity was aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, specifically focusing on SDG 4 (Quality Education), by serving as a hands-on, practical tool for environmental literacy of being an individual environmental steward, technical vocational training, and community-based sustainable development; SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), by protecting and restoring forest watersheds that naturally filter, regulate, and secure freshwater resources; SDG 13 (Climate Action), by directly maximizing a forest’s capacity to capture and store carbon dioxide (CO₂); SDG 14 (Life below Water) primarily by preventing land-based soil erosion and hazardous nutrient runoff from reaching marine ecosystems; SDG 15 (Life on Land) by drastically increasing sapling survival rates, restoring degraded forests, and halting biodiversity loss; and SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals) by serving as a localized mechanism that translates global environmental goals into multi-stakeholder collective action. United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) transform a standard volunteer event into a comprehensive, multi-layered sustainability strategy and expand the activity’s impact into the realms of education, economic security, and institutional partnership.