A House leader has underscored the need to put in place a national policy that would ensure fair and equitable sharing of the benefits derived from the country’s’ genetic resources or raw materials to improve the productivity and quality of crops, livestock, forestry and fisheries as well as to maintain healthy populations of wild species.
Occidental Mindoro Rep. Josephine Sato pushed for the initiative after President Rodrigo Duterte’s issuance of a proclamation declaring portions of the Philippine Rise under strict protection and exclusively for scientific exploration.
“The initiative of the President to protect and conserve our rich marine biodiversity, particularly at the Philippine Rise, is laudable. This is the first important step to ensure that the present and future generation of Filipinos will be able to enjoy the country’s rich biological diversity,” said Sato, a member of the House committee on natural resources.
She noted that the country’s rich biodiversity and unique species of wildlife —both plant and animal—have active ingredients that could be developed into life-saving drugs or medicine, health and wellness products or even for food processing.
Earlier, President Rodrigo Duterte signed a presidential proclamation setting aside a 50,000-hectare portion of Philippine Rise, including the 17,000-hectare Benham Bank, as a no-take zone while another 300,000-hectare area was declared a fisheries management area.