Our Story
Here is a bit about us (Demi And Mat) and a bit more about our project:
My name is Mat, I'm French with IT engineer background. I have been a traveller and dive master for about 10 years now. I use to manage a dive center in Borneo (Malaysia) and work in close collaboration with a conservation camp next door (TRACC) where I learned a lot about corals and marine life. After Borneo, I d
iscovered Palawan and I have been living in El Nido for 4 years already. After enjoying nature's gifts and treasures for so many years, it is time for me to give back and start doing something bigger than me. My name is Demi; I’m from USA with an Insurance Brokering background. I have been exploring the globe, and volunteering abroad since I was a little girl. I’ve always had a strong passion for wildlife and our beautiful planet. Palawan Island is a magical place and the environment here needs our help! I have 800+ dives, in over 40 countries, and I never go underwater without my mesh bag to collect trash and the intention of leaving the ocean better than how I found it. I’ve worked with many different organizations all over the world helping land and marine wildlife. I am so excited to make a difference here in the Philippines; I hope you will come join us! We recently went on a road trip toward the northern tip of Palawan and east coast of the island and discovered a completely untouched area. Sibaltan is pristine and quiet. So close from the famous and crowed El Nido, yet completely unspoiled by tourism. And as we drove to a beach that we saw from the road we met someone offering us visit a lot that was for rent. Two busy days later we signed a contract and we now have a fantastic empty canvas to build our own conservation project in Paradise: SYMBIOSIS. Context and Location
Palawan has been elected most beautiful island in the world three years in a row. The famous Bacuit bay (El Nido) drives more and more tourists every year into the Northern Province. However, there is still so much to discover and explore… and so much to protect and restore. Sibaltan is on the East coast of Palawan directly opposite side from El Nido (less than one hour drive on concrete road) and offers the most amazing sunrises, diving, island hopping, treks...
So close to the booming city of El Nido, yet absolutely untouched and unspoiled. It has many islands to explore, a much richer marine life (Dugong, turtles, sharks, whales…etc) and yet very few tourists ever wonder there. Nature is still predominant and the area radiates with a feeling of quietness. As El Nido is getting overcrowded, Tourism will only grow bigger in Sibaltan, and its essential to start protecting this pristine area as soon as possible. List Environmental Issues of the Area
Local fishermen still practice bomb fishing in some areas with disastrous impact on the magnificent reefs and the marine life. Anchoring from island hopping also destroys coral on wide areas. Cyanide fishing has been observed and must be stopped. Turtle egg poaching is common
Sharks are being sold on the market, babies mostly (hammerhead and black tips). Turtles are being caught and smuggled to Vietnam and China
Sea cows (Dugong) are getting fewer as human activity disturb their habits. Horseshoe Crabs are being hunted for pharmaceutical purpose and rapidly declining. Plastic wastes are everywhere and need collecting and recycling. What we CAN do:
Restore the bombed reef
Push towards a more responsible fishing
Educate locals and kids to the value of an healthy dive site
Protect and nurse turtle eggs
Protect Horseshoe crabs and coconut crabs
Collect and recycle plastics
Setup mooring boy for island hopping and diving boats
Educate locals and lead campaigns about waste management and re-use policy
Collect data for the scientists to measure the health of the sea and its evolution. Learn from the local how to live in an always better symbiosis with nature and the use of its amazing gifts. Limit our own impact on the environment
We need YOU:
Setting up our camp requires funds. We have secured the land on the beach already but now we need to build the eco-village that will welcome our volunteers from all over the world. We need machines that can turn plastic into bricks. We need material for our first volunteers (already coming next month!) to start building bungalows, kitchen, power house....etc
We need solar panels to power our village with clean energy (no electricity yet in the area). We need a boat, compressor and diving equipment to send our eco-divers collect and transplant broken corals! Every donation counts! Smaller donation will be rewarded by freebees while bigger contributors will get free Eco-diving holidays at Symbiosis. Either we reach our objective or not, we will push through and build this eco-community step by step. Eco-brick by eco-brick! Impact
Saving and protecting our planet is saving ourselves! Our oceans are dying and it’s more than time to react and initiate the change! And if you can’t donate, come spend your holiday with us and share our project to all your friends. Risks and Challenges
The main risks for us are from local poachers and dynamite fishermen who are destroying the environment for easy profit and see us as a threat to their dirty business. Environmental activists are often bullied and even killed. It has been happening in Central America for years. And now it starts here in Asia as, not later than a month ago, an officer from the local government got shot and killed by illegal wood traders when he was trying to confront them. Only education and money can beat these practices.
