Seafront Residences takes seaside community living a notch higher with its Pawikan Nature Reserve. The entire 43-hectare beachside development, including the shoreline, has been designated as a prime nesting ground for endangered pawikan.

Seafront Residences culminated its five-year Seafront Pawikan Conservation Project last 5 February with Aboitiz Land’s Corporate Social Responsibility team and Project Development and Management Group, University of the Philippines representatives, and Municipal Environment Resources Office representatives.

As part of its conservation efforts, the seaside community along with its vecinos — Aboitiz Land’s term of endearment for their homeowners taken from the Spanish word for “neighbors” — helped release 126 pawikan along its shores. After releasing the pawikan, the process and importance of nest excavations were taught to surrounding communities, including the children who participated in the program, to ensure that the natural cycle of the pawikan remains undisrupted.

Aboitiz Land’s Pawikan Conservation Project entails such a five-year management plan to protect and preserve sea turtles through research, proper monitoring, the establishment of hatchling facilities, and a community education drive.

The pawikan and their nesting places were studied and profiled closely over the first two years of implementation. Beach zones were also designated in Barangay Calubcub II to locate, assess, and secure sea turtle nesting locations.

Since the program was implemented, an average of 10 nests has been recorded per season and the eggs have an average hatching rate of 78 percent. Aboitiz Land has now cared for 51 nests with 4,358 eggs and released 2,563 hatchlings back into the ocean.

The Philippines is the center of animal diversity and is home to five out of seven species of pawikan that can be found around the world. Pawikan keep oceans healthy by nourishing seagrass beds and coral reefs. As destructive human activity increases, however, sea turtle populations are endangered. Thus, protecting their nesting sites becomes crucial to preserve their population.

The Pawikan Conservation Project will continue to work toward the preservation of sea turtles in the coming years. Through this initiative, Aboitiz Land and Seafront Residences commit to environmentally-sensitive planning while delivering sustainable developments and homes that may be passed onto future generations.

Seafront Residences is a premium beach community in Barangay Calubcub II, San Juan, Batangas that offers a variety of residential units, such as houses designed by Budji+Royal, residential lots, and villas or beach condominiums. With interconnected pedestrian paths that make the beach and other amenities within reach in more or less five minutes, vecinos are enriched with a harmonious balance of nature and top-of-the-line recreation activities in this exclusive address.

Read from The Daily Tribune: https://bit.ly/pawikan-the-darling-in-this-prime-beach-community