Watch, learn and make a difference!

There is no better time to open the exhibit “Water: Sustaining Life on Earth” last March 22 with the anticipated Sunday crowd of children and their families visiting the Manila Ocean Park. Seeing colorful water creatures found in the largest aquarium facility in the country inspires a certain sense of pride, which is an ideal sentiment to touch base on when people go on to view the exhibit.

A joint project of the Coca-Cola Foundation and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the exhibit’s main objective is to promote awareness on the importance of water and related issues like water pollution and water conservation. It will be on display until September 2009.

Coca-Cola’s involvement in the said project is in line with the company’s global commitment to water stewardship. At the launch of the 9-component display exhibit at the Manila Ocean Park, Coca-Cola Foundation Philippines Chair Rene Adad said, “Coca-Cola is the No. 1 beverage company in the world with over 450 brands and 2,800 beverage products. That means we use 300 billion liters of water for all of our operations worldwide.”

He added that because of this, former Coca-Cola Chairman of the Board E. Neville Isdell announced the company’s goal “to return to communities and to nature an amount of water equivalent to what we use in all of our beverages and their production.” This directive led to global efforts of reducing the amount of water used to produce Coke beverages, recycling water for manufacturing processes and replenishing water in communities and nature through locally-relevant projects.

In the Philippines, Coca-Cola Foundation answered to this call by launching various water-relevant projects like Rainwater Harvesting Project, where the Foundation helps communities that do not have water supply get access to a potent source of water in the form of rain. In the exhibit, a replica of what a rainwater-harvesting tank looks like is on display. The exhibit also discusses what rainwater harvesting is all about and it teaches visitors some innovative ways to conserve water and use alternative resources like rain.

Aside from the Rainwater Harvesting Project, Coca-Cola is also involved in Sta. Rosa Watershed Study, Watershed Watch and Water Trail. Sta. Rosa Watershed Study is a 5-year partnership with World Wide Fund for Nature, where we aim to revive crucial ecosystems in Sta. Rosa water basin. It begins with a study that will determine the factors that affect the degradation of the said watershed and based on the findings, both parties will determine what must be done to solve the problems. The Watershed Watch is actually a comic book that is aimed at raising awareness of public high school students on the importance of Philippine watersheds and wetlands as well as the urgency of the call for water conservation. Copies of the said Watershed Comics will be distributed in various public high schools in Metro Manila. The Water Trail is program where “water education” will be included in the public high school curriculum. Like the Watershed Watch, it also seeks to educate the youth on the importance of water and in order to increase appreciation for the said subject matter, the program concludes with a field trip to the Lamesa Dam, where the students traces the “water trail” from the dam all the way to their faucets at home.

Last year, the Coca-Cola system in the Philippines also participated in the International Coastal Cleanup and it instantly became a success with participation of an astounding 1,394 employee volunteers who helped pick up 32,492 kilos of marine debris trash. Because of the overwhelming impact that the collective efforts of the ICC volunteers was able to achieve, Coca-Cola Foundation made a commitment to organize the event every year until there is no more trash to collect from local coastal areas.

The “Water: Sustaining Life on Earth” exhibit then brings further affirmation of the company’s commitment to water stewardship. The presence of Coca-Cola Philippines Business Unit president Kandy Anand Coca-Cola Bottlers Philippines president and CEO David Lyons at the opening is proof of the leadership team’s support to the advocacy. As Mr. Adad expressed gratitude to Manila Ocean Park for the opportunity to impart water stewardship values to park visitors through the exhibit, he added, “We see our partnership with Manila Ocean Park as integral to the fulfillment of these goals to preserve our environment—most especially our oceans---the ultimate source of all our world’s water.”

By building on that sense of pride in having water resources that are home to such beautiful marine creatures, those that viewed the exhibit can be moved to action. Hopefully, it will lead to more people embracing our water stewardship advocacy and eventually encourage them to make a difference.