MANILA – The Department of Environment and Natural Resources has partnered with the University of the Philippines to transform its sprawling Diliman campus and a nearby park into an “ecological paradise,” officials said Thursday.

The development of the 500-hectare UP Diliman and the 25-hectare Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife will serve as a model for similar efforts in other state universities, said Environment Secretary Gina Lopez.

“It’s creating models, showing na kaya pala natin (We can do it),” Lopez told a news conference. “We will make that a model in renewable energy, agriculture, architecture.”

“It will be paradise,” she said, after the DENR signed a memorandum of agreement with UP Diliman chancellor Michael Tan. “I am very confident it will work out.”

Tan said development projects would be drafted next year.

“It’s a small city,” Tan said. “We can show that environmental conservation and sustainability is very compatible with other needs we have in human communities.”