Home » Coconut husks used in eco-friendly nets for combating erosion and preventing landslides

Coconut husks used in eco-friendly nets for combating erosion and preventing landslides

Coconut husks used in eco-friendly nets for combating erosion and preventing landslides

Albay
1. Agricultural engineer Justino Arboleda inspecting nets made of coconut fibers (coconet) stock
2. Various of Arboleda and coconets

FILE
Antipolo
3. Pan from collapsed mountain to destroyed houses in Antipolo, Philippines
4. Houses destroyed by landslide
5. Destroyed houses

Albay
6. SOUNDBITE: (English) Justino Arboleda, coconet manufacturer
“We experience a lot of rain…”

Zambales
7. Barren slope covered with coconets next to highway being built
8. Pan of coconet covering slope
9. Civil engineer Roy Ruiz inspecting the coconets
10. Pan from highway being developed to coconet covering slope
11. SOUNDBITE: (English) Roy Ruiz, Senior Civil Engineer, Obayashi Corporation:
“This is the most efficient…”
12. Coconets covering slope; zoom in to planted seedlings

Albay
13. SOUNDBITE: (English) Justino Arboleda, coconet manufacturer
“Bio-engineering construction…”
14. Various of workers at decorticating machine which separates fiber from the husk
15. Wide shot of villagers twining coconut fiber
16. Woman and girl manually twining coconut fiber with bare hands
17. Villager manually turning spindle
18. Wide shot of villagers Felix and Lolita Murillo weaving fiber twine into coconet
19. Pan from coconet to villagers weaving fiber twine
20. SOUNDBITE: (Tagalog) Felix Murillo, coconet weaver
“This is really a big help…”
21. Close-up of coconet; tilt up to Arboleda inspecting fiber twine being woven
22. SOUNDBITE: (English) Justino Arboleda, coconet manufacturer
“The two main advantages of cocofiber…”

Zambales
23. Barren slope covered with coconet
24. Coconet covering slope

SUGGESTED LEAD-IN:

Heavy rains create land slides that leave thousands killed and homeless in the Philippines each year.

But now eco-friendly nets have been created by one local entrepreneur to prevent erosion and to stop storm devestation.

His key ingredient — coconuts.

VOICE OVER:

Justino Arboleda has taken one of the most ubiquitous items in the Philippine islands and put it to use for a good cause.

The common coconut is being used to produce eco-friendly nets to combat landslides that devastate the islands each year as a result of heavy weather.

In 2005 alone, 66-thousand people in several northern provinces were left displaced by storms — their homes destroyed.

Arboleda, an agricultural engineer, developed the product to combat such devastation.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
“We experience a lot of rain, we experience a lot of typhoons, and due to that, we have a lot of erosion and mountain collapsing and slopes failing because of very strong rains so we thought of being able to develop a product using coconut fibers to prevent erosion in the country.”
SUPER CAPTION: Justino Arboleda, CocoNet manufacturer

Since its development the coconet has been used in many real estate developments in the Philippines.

The technology has also been applied in riverbank rehabilitation efforts in Germany, Japan and the US.

It is also being tapped for slope protection along highway construction projects like this one in the province of Zambales.

Engineers familiar with the coconet say it’s the most efficient way to control soil erosion.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
“This is the most efficient…” in the modern construction industry, especially in slope protection. It can prevent soil erosion in the mountains or any construction areas. Beside from being very efficient, it is cheaper than the rest of the materials. And the technology is far better than the rest because we consider this ecological friendly.”
SUPER CAPTION: Roy Ruiz, Senior Civil Engineer, Obayashi Corporation

Justino Arboleda weaves the fibers of the coconut shell to make the brown mesh nets.

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