WEBVTT

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- Everything around you is alive.

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We live in a world 
where the palette

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is overwhelmingly gray on blue.

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If you're lucky, you get 
a sporadic smudge of green.

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Here you can see 
the world breathe.

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Highways are replaced by streams, 
cars by canoes.

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Your eyes think that 
you're surrounded by land,

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but it's a trick.

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Underneath the growth, 
more water,

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a quiet resistance.

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You follow one path today, 
and by tomorrow it's gone.

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There is no place 
in the Philippines

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that carries more mystery
than the Agusan Marsh.

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Some people see these wetlands 
merely as ecosystems

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and important biodiverse areas.

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Others see them 
as big bags of cash,

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land to be turned 
into highly efficient farms,

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but a few people see them 
as a home.

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And this is their story.

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The Agusan Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary 
stretches across

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40,000 plus hectares 
of wetlands,

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roughly the size of Manila.

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It's one of the biggest 
in Southeast Asia

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and one of the most vital 
in the Philippines.

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A Ramsar Site, globally recognized 
but barely talked about.

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It's all interconnected by lakes, 
rivers, marshes and ponds.

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It acts like a giant sponge 
during typhoon season,

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absorbing flood waters 
for the entire Agusan River Basin.

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Without it, who knows 
what would happen

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to neighbor towns like Butuan?

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It's home to rare birds, 
floating villages,

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and indigenous communities 
who've learned to live

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with the rise 
and fall of the water.

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But it's under threat.

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Pollution and climate change 
are slowly choking it.

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- Life cannot simply exist 
without the Agusan Marsh.

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The marsh protects everything here.

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When you talk 
of the Agusan Marsh,

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you got to take into account 
the bigger picture

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of the Agusan River Basin.

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Technically, that's the third 
largest river system

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in the Philippines, 
encompassing Regions XI and XIII—

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that's Davao and Caraga.

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What you have here in our town, 
your catch basin.

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And come to think of it, 
everything revolves

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around this catch basin.

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They say that life begins here.

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There can never ever be 
an Agusan del Sur

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without the Agusan Marsh.

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- What's that, Datu?

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- Walking stick.

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Datu Artemio was selected 
as one of the leaders

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due to his Lumad lineage.

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The Lumad are some 
of the first wave of people

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to settle in the Philippines, 
specifically around Mindanao.

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Their ancestral land 
is often highly sought-after,

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making them one 
of the most vulnerable

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ethnic groups in the country.

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They are also one of the few groups
that have held on

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to their pre-colonial culture.

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As in most areas 
in the Philippines,

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where there is 
a strong indigenous ancestry,

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most people with roles to play 
in the community also happen

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to have official 
government positions.

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Datu was previously 
an LGU official and now his son

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is barangay captain.

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They both lead the people 
in Caimpugan and its peatland,

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one of the many parts 
of the Agusan Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary.

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The relationship 
between indigenous religions

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and the Catholic Church 
is complex,

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marked by both historical tensions 
and reconciliation.

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Indigenous religions, 
often rooted in animism

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and oral traditions, 
are distinct from the church's

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codified beliefs and practices.

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Just like when we were colonized, 
one culture doesn't

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usually completely erase 
the other,

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parts of it are indigenized.

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So you'll find people praying 
to the Catholic God

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alongside other entities.

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Where people live with the land, 
these are still

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a common practice.

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Most of the people here 
are Catholic,

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but their own Lumad culture 
is still very strong,

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as it should be.

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These rituals are carried out 
to ensure safe passage

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and acceptance 
into the community.

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- What we have here within 
the Augustan Marsh Wildlife Santuary

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is the Caimpugan peatland.

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The peatland, it covers just 3% 
of the Earth's surface.

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But according to the ICUN, 
they believe that peatland

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conserves 30% 
of the world's carbon,

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and that is twice as much 
carbon sequestered

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as compared to all 
the rainforests combined.

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The conservation of wetlands 
is crucial because it mitigates

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the impacts of climate change.

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If it is damaged, 
it releases tons of CO2

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far greater than anything 
in order to uplift

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and protect our wetlands.