The Flagship Project of YOUNG is Garden Area for Initiatives in Action (GAIA).

Ideas are important. But even more important are ideas in action. One profound challenge in the Filipino psyche is “ningas cogon” or “brush fire” mentality. Filipinos get easily excited about inspiring ideas. But millions of these exciting ideas die an early death of neglect. Nothing inspires the youth of the 21st century more than to see ideas in action.

This is where GAIA comes in. The primary meaning of GAIA is Garden Area for Initiatives in Action. GAIA is the place where young people can get inspired to see all kinds of initiatives converging in one place. They will also be exposed to the larger universal ideals and thinking that underlie these working initiatives.

Image 1 | GAIA Overview Map of Existing and Proposed Initiatives

SEA and the leadership of the town of Zarraga have purposely placed GAIA in an agricultural setting. One key reason for this is to encourage young people to seriously consider taking up farming as their profession.

Farming, as a profession, a livelihood and a way of life, is on the verge of extinction. The average age of the Filipino farmer is 57 years old. To make things worst, very few young people are entering agriculture. There is a massive succession problem in Philippine agriculture.

In addition, “gaia” is also the Greek word for Planet Earth. So GAIA will be a place for young people to discover an identity far larger and more comprehensive than that of just being a resident of Zarraga and a Filipino, no matter how important both are for the grounding of young people. Ultimately, there is a much larger dimension to human existence, one that encompasses an evolutionary identity deeply connected with Mother Earth and the whole universe that brought the earth into being.

In short, GAIA will be a place for young people to discover the different layers of their identity and to act out of this knowledge in order to serve the world.

SEA envisions GAIA, because of its universal framework, to be a converging area for young people not only from Zarraga, but also other parts of the Philippines and the world.

The overall objective of GAIA is to showcase, in one contiguous area, diverse initiatives in the different dimensions of sustainability and use these initiatives to anchor a town-wide education process especially for the youth.

So far, LGU Zarraga and SEA have identified the following initiatives to be part of GAIA:

• Research and Technology Incubation (part of ZAP or Zarraga Agriculture Program) (functional)
• Demonstration Farm (ZAP) (functional)
• Training Center (ZAP) (government funds appropriated for construction)
• Vermicomposting facility (ZAP) (under construction)
• Aquaculture center (ZAP)
• Greenhouse (ZAP)
• Organic vegetable production area (ZAP)
• Herbal garden (ZAP)
• Project UPLIFT (Cultural Dimension, see here)
• Visitors center (GAIA proper)
• Organic Restaurant (GAIA proper)
• Ecotourism (GAIA proper)
• Holistic Healing Center (GAIA proper)
• And more

Initiative-takers will mobilize their own resources to establish their sustainability projects. The local government of Zarraga has already committed to providing the necessary infrastructure (roads, dredging operations, drainage, earth-moving and earth-shaping equipment, etc) to make GAIA functional.

Recently the national government’s Department of Tourism visited GAIA and is mulling a P50 million (or 1 million Euro) construction program for GAIA to turn it into an eco-agro-cultural tourism center, not only of Zarraga but also the Province of Iloilo and the Western Visayas Region of the Philippines. The Government of Zarraga has also decided that GAIA will be the core of its new town center concept, located around two kilometers from the present center of the town.