The School of Environmental Science and Management-University of the Philippines Los Baños (SESAM-UPLB) launched the newest webinar series entitled SESAM Research Impact Series (SRIS). This webinar series will highlight methods and impacts of interdisciplinary research conducted by the School.

This new webinar series will discuss innovative ideas in research, current and emerging trends and best practices and other developments from various research initiatives of SESAM focusing on land, air, water and people. 

SRIS is a joint webinar collaboration of SESAM Continuing Education and Training Division (CETD) and SESAM Research Division. It is being initiated with the aim of disseminating SESAM’s projects (currently implemented and those that are already completed). It is another activity of CETD under its Thematic Focus Area No. 5 Policy, Technology, and Innovations for the Environment. It is SESAM’s way of showing research programs and projects with meaningful impacts for the benefit of the society, community, and with the hope of sustaining the integrity of the environment.

Dr. Rico C. Ancog, Dean of SESAM said that SESAM, as a graduate unit of UPLB, can trace its history as a research program, it is a very important segment of the School’s history. “Environmental problems are complex, but correspondingly, we can fully understand these problems in terms of how we organize ourselves. We want to use this SRIS as platform for us to realize how UPLB-SESAM has learned from this history in terms of being a research program and now as a college”, Dr. Ancog said.

Meanwhile, Dr. Patricia Ann J. Sanchez, Head of the SESAM Research Division said the SRIS will showcase the different researches of SESAM in land, air, water and people for a timely dissemination of relevant information that could be of assistance to the Filipino people. “Most of the time, our outputs are published in peer-reviewed journals or reports or books… this time around, SRIS aims to publicize our research in a laymanized way that could popularize or research outputs for the general public”, Dr. Sanchez said.

The first research project featured in SRIS is Project LIGTAS or the Landslides Investigations on Geohazards for Timely Advisories in the Philippines. Project LIGTAS is a three-year project from January 2021- to December 2023, funded by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and monitored by the Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development (PCIEERD). 

The project leader, Dr. Decibel F. Eslava, former Dean of SESAM, said the common causative landslide factors in the Philippines are related to steep slopes and moist condition of soils due to abundant amount of rainfall. “Based on the analysis in Benguet, areas which experienced landslides in the past are prone to experience landslides again “, Dr. Eslava stressed.  

“We asked geologists, foresters and engineers what contribute most to rain-induced landslides in the Philippines?” Dr. Eslava said. She added that Project LIGTAS used Analytical Hierarchy Process to derive the weights of the different criteria listed by the experts on what causes landslides. “Project LIGTAS would like to develop mitigate measure to help warn communities… mitigate loss of lives, not so much in mitigating the occurrence”, she added.

Despite the various initiatives of the government, Dr. Eslava said Project LIGTAS saw some gaps- such as the site-specific rainfall values for various regions; and use these values for operationalization of an early warning system. The system must be cheap and easily replicable in different communities using simple requirements, processing and solutions. She stressed if these are in place, it has a higher chance of adoption.

Project LIGTAS also values the partnership with the local government, especially in providing firsthand accounts of landslide information, which is considered as citizen science. “They also provide photos and we are very grateful to them by providing these information to us”, Dr. Eslava stressed.  

In her closing message, For. Sofia A. Alaira, Head of CETD, said that more projects will be disseminated in future SRIS webinars, as more than 300 participants via Zoom and Facebook Live in this maiden offering. “This webinar will be conducted bi-monthly, and through SRIS SESAM will continue to give all the learnings, the research methods used, solutions gained, impacts and those who would benefit from the projects being implemented by SESAM”, For. Alaira stressed. The next SRIS webinar will feature projects under the UPLB Interdisciplinary Studies Center for Water.