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Thursday, March 18, 2004
DENR: Solve poverty to save marine life
By LIBERTY A. PINILI
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
THE continued destruction of the country’s coastal resources is partly caused by extreme poverty of fisherfolk who resort to unsustainable fishing practices for survival.
The solution to the problem is not only to stop the destruction but also to address poverty issues, said Environment Secretary Gozun during the opening of a conference on integrated coastal resource management yesterday.
“Humankind has survived war and famine…but we have yet to surmount our basest instincts: to covet, to plunder…with little regard for the costs and consequences of greed and waste,” she said.
Gozun said there is an urgent need to rehabilitate and properly manage coastal resources to ensure food security, economic growth and public health.
While managing municipal waters and coastal resources is primarily the responsibility of local government units, she said the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ Coastal and Marine Management Office (CCMO) will provide technical assistance to local officials.
Participants
The Coastal Zone Philippines conference is participated in by over 100 marine scientists, coastal resource managers, local and national government officials, people’s and nongovernment organizations.
In the same conference, the Coastal Resource Management Project (CRMP) launched two publications, “the Philippine Fisheries in Crisis: A Framework for Management” and the “Directory on Coastal Resource Management Learning Destinations in the Philippines.”
The directory is a 147-page compilation of successful initiatives by different local government units in the country.
In her speech delivered by Environment Under-secretary Manuel Gerochi, Gozun said the degradation of coastal and marine resources is a crisis that people “tend to overlook” although “it lies at the root of many of our economic and political problems”.
She cited studies that reveal that only five percent of the country’s coral reef is in excellent condition, that mangrove areas are down to about 148,000 hectares (from 450,000 hectares in 1918) and fish stock in major fishing grounds is declining.
She said a healthy mangrove ecosystem can generate at least $538 per hectare, based on the value of fish and fishery products dependent on mangrove forests.
Harvest
A square kilometer of health reef can yield about 37 tons of fish and invertebrates a year, compared with a meager two tons per square kilometer of damaged reef per year.
A reef, which serves as habitat for fish and other marine organisms, also contributes to the country’s economy because of tourism.
Gozun stressed the need for people empowerment and collaboration among stakeholders in the rehabilitation and management of the country’s coastal resources.
“We see…coastal resource management as a means to conquer mass poverty in our time and to guarantee prosperity in the future,” she said.
(March 18, 2004 issue)
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