TABLE OF CONTENTS

PROBLEM STATEMENT 2
THE TASK 4
RUBRICS 6
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES 9
SAMPLE TITLE PAGE 10

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 PROBLEM STATEMENT

PROBLEM STATEMENT

As a geographic location for marine biodiversity, the Philippine archipelago is

at the apex of the Coral Triangle or the Indo-Malayan Triangle with an estimated
26,000 km2 coral reef area that is home to 12 endemic coral species (State of the
Coral Triangle: Philippines, 2014). However, these hotspots of marine biodiversity
have been degrading over the years as a result of natural disturbances and
intense anthropogenic pressures (Licuanan, et al., 2017).

Data from 2004 show that 40% of reef areas in the Philippines had poor coral
cover and less than 1% comprised areas with excellent coral cover (State of the
Coral Triangle: Philippines, 2014). A nationwide assessment done on 166 reef
areas in 2017 on live coral cover (LCC) and hard coral cover (HCC) yielded smaller
numbers. More than 90% are in the poor and fair categories based on the LCC
and mean HCC was 22%. Though comparable to the rest of the Indo-Pacific region,
these values are lower than the projections for the Philippines, indicating an
accelerated decline in coral cover in the past decade (Licuanan, et al., 2017).

Coral degradation can be attributed to a myriad of co-occurring causes and

stressors which impact the heavily exploited reefs. Local causes include
agricultural nutrient run-off, coastal development, and harmful fishing and
aquaculture practices (Gurney, et al., 2013). Aside from this, more global causes
could be increasing sea surface temperature, ocean acidification, typhoons,
tsunamis, and climate change (Tan, Anticamara & Villanueva, 2017) To counter
these factors, restoration and rehabilitation efforts must be made to re-establish
self-sustaining and resilient ecosystems. A notable rehabilitation program is the
Bolinao Coral Reef Targeted Research Program–a community-based restoration
program involving in-sitio nurseries of corals which ran from 2004 to 2009
(Mickelfield, 2018). Even after the end of the program, rehabilitation efforts are
still being done the Bolinao reefs to sustain its ecosystem. As stressors also
increase with time, coral rehabilitation is a continuous process of little steps.

In line with this, suppose that the Department of Science and Technology is
looking for new innovations for coral rehabilitation in the Philippines and is
starting a nationwide search for suggestions and proposals. You and your team
of research and environmental scientists were tasked to propose your idea.

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 PROBLEM STATEMENT

With a starting fund of Php 100M for your project, your goal is to develop a
process or product that aims to facilitate coral rehabilitation across the country.
The process must be sustainable with no harmful side effects or by-products.
Aside from this, it’s accessibility and applicability must be taken into consideration.
You may start with a target locality near known reef areas (e.g. Lingayen Gulf,
Leyte Gulf) and later upscale to nationwide. The long-term goal of the project is to
increase the Philippine hard coral cover (HCC) to 25% within 10 years of
implementation. Your detailed plan will be shown to leading executives and
experts who will incorporate your idea, if it is approved, into a large-scale coral
rehabilitation project which will be given funding in 2022.

References

Gurney, G., et al. (2013). Modelling Coral Reef Futures to Inform

Management: Can Reducing Local-Scale Stressors Conserve Reefs Under
Climate Change? PLoS ONE, 8(11), e80137.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0080137
Licuanan, A.M., et al. (2017). Initial Findings of the Nationwide Assessment of
Philippine Coral Reefs. Philippine Journal of Science, 146(2), 177-185.
https://philjournalsci.dost.gov.ph/images/pdf/pjs_pdf/vol146no2/initial_findin
gs_of_the_nationwide_assessment_of_philippine_coral_reefs.pdf
Mickelfield, A. (2018). An Evaluation of Coral Reef Restoration Methods &
Artificial Reefs. https://www.marineconservationphilippines.org/wp-
content/uploads/2018/02/an-evaluation-of-coral-reef-restoration-
methods.pdf
State of the Coral Triangle: Philippines (2014). Asian Development Bank:
Mandaluyong, Philippines.
https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/42414/state-coral-triangle-
philippines.pdf
Tan, B.C.A., Anticamara, J.A., & Villanueva, M.C.S. (2017). Modeling of
degraded reefs in Leyte Gulf, Philippines in the face of climate change and
human-induced disturbances. Climate, Disaster, and Development Journal, 3(1).
https://doi.org/10.18783/cddj.v003.i01.a01

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 THE TASK

THE TASK

In this preliminary phase of the Case Study, each team will be asked to submit
their own concept project proposals for an approach to Coral Rehabilitation in the
Philippines. The required output for this case study will include:

1. Title Page (Sample provided below)

Title

School Name and Team Number

Names of Participants

Date Submitted

2. Introduction to the suggested approach to coral rehabilitation

3. Suggested process/product to make use of in the approach to coral

rehabilitation

Plan of action

Raw materials to be used

Steps for production

Efficiency of the process

4. Discussion on the end output and its function

5. Feasibility and Economic Analysis

Overall Plan (i.e. production requirements, facilities, and marketing

strategy, if any)

Estimated Costs

Technical Feasibility (Do we have the technology now in the Philippines?)

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 THE TASK

6. Implications

Health and Environment

Will there be any effects on other aspects of the environment when making
use of the proposed process/product? If so how will they be mitigated?

Will there be any effects on the human population involved in the

communities making use of the proposed process/product? If so how will
they be mitigated?

Community Involvement

What guidelines should LGUs follow to ensure sustainable coastal

rehabilitation?

What external factors would possibly impede coastal rehabilitation initiatives

and how to mitigate them?

7. References (APA format)

Each paper is limited to only 2000 words. Participants are restricted to only
make use of Microsoft Office Applications in processing, analyzing, and
presenting any relevant data. Failure to do so will result in corresponding demerits.
Participants are asked to exert their utmost creativity, imagination, and critical
thinking skills in this competition. The font to be used is Times New Roman 12.
The page size should be A4 with 1-inch margins on all sides.

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 RUBRICS

RUBRICS

The grading for Phase I of the Case Study competition can be broken down as
follows, with a grade of 10 being exemplary and a grade of 1 being poor:

Component Description 10 (Exemplary) 1 (Poor)

INTRODUCTION (20%)

Background clearly
A brief explains various facets Background is generic
Background
introspective on of the strategy and its and unrelated to the
(10%)
the chosen strategy relation to the topic
Philippines

Rationale convincingly
explains the reasons
Details why the There is no rationale
Rationale behind the chosen
participating team behind the choice of
(10%) strategy through the
chose the strategy strategy
use of well-founded
references

WAY OF PRODUCTION (15%)

Outlines the
The methodology is The paper does not
method or plan of
clear, concise, well- expound on how the
Methodology action in order to
founded in theory, and group will concretize
(15%) accomplish
explains well the their plan to produce
production of the
group’s idea said strategy
strategy

CREATIVITY (15%)

The proposal
Shows creativity
incorporates resources The overall proposal
and uniqueness in
unique and available to does not make use of
Ingenuity tackling the
the Philippines in the richness of the
(15%) strategy in the
interesting ways in the resources available in
context of the
overall plan of the the archipelago
Philippines
design

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 RUBRICS

FEASIBILITY (15%)

The proposal is readily

feasible and can be
Discusses the
replicated with relative
Practicality possibility of The proposal cannot be
ease; the group
(10%) implementing the applied in practice
provides
design
recommendations for
application

Given proposal shows a There is no cost or

Briefs the reader
detailed economic economic analysis and
Economics on the financial
analysis and is confined the proposal goes over
(5%) side of the
within the allotted the budget by a
proposal
budget substantial amount

IMPLICATIONS (20%)

The proposal explains

Explains the effects There is no explanation
any adverse effects on
Environment of producing the on the implications of
the environment and
(5%) strategy on the the proposal on the
even states how these
environment environment
can be overcome

The proposal explains

any adverse effects on
Explains the effects There is no explanation
the health and safety of
Health of producing the on the implications of
the workers and
(5%) strategy on the the proposal on human
community and even
human population health and safety
states how these can be
overcome

Explains the social

The proposal explains There is no explanation
responsibilities the
Community how the community on the role of the
community must
Involvement contributes to ensuring community in ensuring
uphold to ensure
(10%) sustainable coral sustainable coral
sustainable coral
rehabilitation. rehabilitation.
rehabilitation.

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 RUBRICS

WRITING (10%)

The ideas in the

The paper is organized
The overall proposal are scattered
Organization in a logical manner with
structure and flow and have no coherence
(5%) one idea flowing well to
of the paper with respect to one
the next
another

Shows appropriate Errors in grammar are

Grammar and
use of the English No grammatical errors abundant and word
Word Choice
language in writing and good word choice choice proves to be
(5%)
the proposal lackluster

REFERENCES (5%)

The sources used come

The references The sources used are
Quality of from journals, books, or
used and their poor and have little to
Sources (5%) other researches with
reliability no credibility
credibility

DEDUCTIONS

• Incorrect file name and format

• 1% deduction from the overall score for every incorrect file name and format.
• Late submissions
• 2% deduction from the Phase I overall score per day of late submission. Entries
sent more than five (5) days after the deadline will not be accepted.
• Failure to use only Microsoft Office Applications
• 1.5% deduction from the overall score

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 SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

The deadline for the Pleiades Case Study Competition Phase I will be on
DECEMBER 11, 2020 (FRI) 11:59PM PHT. Note that participants must be registered
for YSC to join the case study competition. Forward all submissions to
researchfair.ysc@upalchemes.org in PDF format following the given file name
format:

YSC Phase I_[Name of School]_[Team Number].pdf

ex. YSC Phase I_University of the Philippines_1.pdf

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 SAMPLE TITLE PAGE

SAMPLE TITLE PAGE

An Approach to Coral
Rehabilitation

University of The Philippines Diliman

Team 1

Garcia, Keilah

Mendoza, Alfre Aniana

Villar, Katrina

Date Submitted: 09 November 2020llllllll

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