7 December 2005—  Philippine Ambassador to the Court of St. James, UK Edgardo B. Espiritu has congratulated Juboken Enterprise, a Philippine company producing “coconets” from coconut husks that control erosion and prevent landslides, for winning this year’s World Challenge, a global competition sponsored by BBC World, Newsweek and Shell.

In his report to the Department of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Espiritu said the family enterprise was founded by Filipino agricultural engineer Justino Arboleda, who manages it together with his brothers.   Eng. Arboleda used to head the College of Agriculture of Bicol University, but resigned several years ago to devote his time and resources to developing the coconets project that would later win the prestigious award.

Amazingly, this Filipino inventor has not applied for a patent on the product, because he wants it replicated in as many parts of the world as possible.   Eng. Arboleda said that other countries have been buying his product, including China, which will use the coconets in the Gobi desert. He has also received offers from Australia. The by-products of Arboleda’s coconut husks include soil conditioner from fiber and dust, insulation that is superior to wool and other materials, sound-proofing, linings for beds and mattresses, and many others.

The World Challenge competition aims at finding individuals or groups from around the world who have shown enterprise and innovation at a grass roots level, whose projects are making a difference to communities.

There were almost 500 nominations and over 120,000 votes received from around the world during this year’s competition. The overall winner was recently announced at a ceremony in London, with the overall winner receiving a plaque of recognition and a US$20,000 grant from Shell, to be invested in further developing the project.   The winning project was featured in the final episode of the World Challenge series on BBC World on 3 December 2005, and appears in a special supplement of the 12 December international issue of Newsweek magazine.

This year’s finalists came from Zambia, Kenya, United Kingdom, Slovenia, Malta, Spain, South Africa, United States, Vanuatu, Ukraine, India, and the Philippines. The two runners-up were Vanuatu’s Rechargeable Battery project, and Malta’s Bio-diesel Power project.

The World Challenge website (www.theworldchallenge.co.uk) gives a brief background on the Philippine coconets innovation:

“In little more than two generations the Philippines has seen nearly all its jungle vanish. With little regard to the future, loggers and squatters have destroyed watersheds. The inevitable result has been landslides sweeping away topsoil. In 1995 agricultural engineer Justino Arboleda started Juboken Enterprise to combat soil erosion. The company makes nets that act as surrogate tree roots by holding loose soils together. Joboken's coconut plantations provide the fibre. The nets are made from waste coconut husks: an eco-friendly solution to a developing eco-disaster.

“This continuing success has improved the lives of more than 1500 families in the Philippines: each family involved in the project earns an additional income of around US$5 dollars per day. These achievements have been honored by the President of the Philippines, who in 2004 presented Juboken Enterprise with a special award.”

Ambassador Espiritu received at the Embassy Eng. Arboleda and his brothers after receiving the World Challenge award in London, and discussed with them along with other embassy officials Juboken Enterprise’s plans to further propagate the useful technology of coconets not only in the Philippines but also in other countries.   (Please refer to the separate photo release on this subject matter.)

“Using your coconut’, a well-known Filipino expression meaning using one’s head to apply solutions to difficult problems, has indeed paid off well for Filipino inventor-entrepreneur Justino Arboleda and his brothers,” Ambassador Espiritu said during the meeting with the Filipino inventors. END