the Nationwide Mangrove Map
The Mangrove Map Validation initiative expanded significantly in late 2024 through a strategic collaboration among key national agencies as directed by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. The Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA), alongside the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), the Department of Education (DepEd), and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), works together to actively involve students in validating the nationwide mangrove map as a technology-driven science project that harnesses citizen science.
Under this program, PhilSA drives various capacity-building programs for educators, enabling them to integrate space science and fieldwork activities into classroom lessons. This mobilizes students, higher education institutions (HEIs), local communities, and non-government organizations (NGO) as active citizen scientists to scale up field efforts. Driven by the enhanced citizen science campaign, the program targets 1,000 unique data validation submissions by the end of 2026 to directly refine PhilSA's mapping algorithms and support coastal conservation.
Contact Details: sesd@philsa.gov.ph
Join the National Mangrove Map Validation
Whether you are in the classroom or in the field, you play a vital role in protecting our coastal ecosystems and helping us reach the target of 1,000 data validation submissions by the end of 2026.
For Educators
Are you an educator teaching near coastal or mangrove areas? You can actively integrate mangrove conservation, space data utilization, and ground validation into your classroom lessons or co-curricular activities.
To help you get started, download and use the training resources:
Access ready-to-use lesson guides developed by our pilot DepEd and PSHS teacher-participants to seamlessly align citizen science with the current school curriculum.
Download the session guides, activity sheets, presentation slide decks, and the Field Guide to Philippine Mangroves used during the training sessions.
For Aspiring Citizen Scientists
Make a difference for our environment. No science degree required, just a willingness to learn and contribute. Join the growing community of citizen scientists helping collect data for conservation.
Explore our Information, Education, and Communication (IEC) materials to learn more about the Philippine Mangrove Map Validation and how to navigate the ODK Collect application. These guides will show you how to accurately capture locations, identify species, and submit ground-validation data directly to PhilSA's mapping database right from your smartphone.
From 02 to 06 March 2026, PhilSA led the Capacity Building of Teachers on Student Engagement in Mangrove Map Validation, bringing together 30 educators from 10 pilot schools across Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. Participants included DepEd junior and senior high school educators handling Science and Technology and Livelihood Education-Information and Communications Technology (TLE-ICT), as well as teachers from selected regional campuses of the Philippine Science High School System (PSHSS).
Co-facilitated by experts from the DENR and PhilSA, the workshop covered four primary areas: coastal and marine ecosystems, conservation efforts for mangroves, space data for the environment, and fieldwork methods.
A central feature of the program was a field visit to the Las Piñas-Parañaque Wetland Park. Teachers gained hands-on experience identifying mangrove species, measuring abundance and distribution of organisms using quadrat and transect, and using the ODK Collect mobile application to submit ground validation data. Ultimately, the participants developed lesson exemplars to integrate these space science and citizen science methodologies into their classroom lessons and activities. This ensures that students can actively contribute to the national validation database.
For inquiries, contact sesd@philsa.gov.ph with the subject 'Mangrove Map Validation'