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Friday, March 29, 2024

‘PH has delivered on promise to raise marine protected areas’

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THE Philippines has marked the 2018 banner year as a “protector” of Coral Triangle, according to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Crisanta Dominguez, DENR’s Biodiversity Management Bureau director, said the country had delivered on its commitment to create more marine protected areas with the enactment of Republic Act 11038 or the Expanded National Integrated Protected Areas System Act.

“The year 2018 was a good one for the Philippines in terms of our efforts and achievements as a member of the Coral Triangle initiative on coral reefs, fisheries and food security,” she said.

The initiative is a multilateral partnership of six countries—Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste and the Philippines—working together to sustain extraordinary marine and coastal resources in the region known as the global center of marine biodiversity by addressing crucial issues, such as food security and climate change.

“One of the milestones of the Philippines is the legislation of additional 10 MPAs under the Act,” Dominguez said.

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MPAs are areas in seas and oceans where human activity is regulated for conversion and protection of the natural resources within them.

Rodriguez reported the full implementation of the coastal and marine ecosystems management program covering habitat assessment for E-NIPAS and MPAs, MPA networking technical assistance for local government units, support to 25 MPA network networks and 209 biodiversity-friendly enterprises, and inclusion of ocean acidification baseline study in select MPAs.

Coastal stability assessment, mapping, impact monitoring resiliency studies and updating of coral reef baseline data were conducted in the West Philippine Sea and Philippine Rise or the Benham Rise.

According to Dominguez, the effective MPA management is one of the five targets under the national plan of action.

She said the government had intensified its effort to combat illegal fishing nationwide.

Still, Dominguez called for continued support for initiatives to protect the coastal and marine resources.

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