Wednesday, May 07, 2008 Osmeña: Tourism and coastal zone management By Antonio V. Osmeña Estatements
TOURISM Secretary Joseph Ace Durano needs to amend the Coas-tal Zone Manage-ment Act to bring about, under its jurisdiction, estuaries and wetlands, especially in Cebu.
But then local officials trying to protect these lands while still allowing reasonable use have to face difficulties because of a number of factors: more than 90 percent of the coastline is privately owned or controlled; plans for protecting and using one estuarine system may not apply to another; even when an ecologically sound plan exists, there is tremendous pressure to use estuarine areas primarily for economic purposes; and protection plans are hampered because of the conflicting goals of the many different coastal municipalities and cities sharing the use of estuarine zones.
The Department of Tourism (DOT) should help coastal areas in Cebu develop a comprehensive programs for protecting and managing coastlines.
Although the Coas-tal Zone Management Act is an important step, it has been hindered by inadequate funding. Many, and eventually most of tourism destinations in Cebu and neighboring islands, will be highly urbanized. Due to urbanization, oceans will become a sink for natural and human wastes. Water used and consumed in homes, factories and farms flows into rivers, which eventually empty into the ocean.
The major pollution problems in oceans can be seen in estuaries, wetlands, bays and harbors as well as the mouths of polluted rivers.
Is there a national coastal management plan? Critics argue that local government units’ plans are vague and do not provide legal authority for adequate protection of coastal lands.
Suggestions to streng-then the law include: (1) allowing new development only in areas already developed; (2) ensuring that the public has free and unrestricted access to shorelines and beaches, but only through entryways that protect dunes and other natural barriers; (3) letting citizens have a voice in deciding how coastal lands will be used; (4) having the National Government establish a coastal program for provinces and cities that fail to enact and enforce adequate coastal protection programs; (5) establishing national or provincial protection of large areas of coastal areas for recreational public use, as is done in Sweden; and (6) encouraging private foundations to buy and protect the most critical areas until they can be purchased and protected by the National Government or local government units.
Since the DOT’s main concern is to maintain the pristine conditions of the coastal areas. Secretary Durano should encourage Congress to pass an enabling law to enforce strictly the above-mentioned suggestions of strengthening the coastal zone management.
A major concern is ocean pollution coming from river and urban runoff, mostly from the disposal of lubricating oil from machines and automobile crankcases, which account for about 41 percent of the annual input. Oil tanker accidents and routine discharges of oil from tankers during loading, unloading and cleaning contribute 20 percent to the problem.
On June 3, 1979, a well being drilled in the Caribbean Sea by Pennex, suffered a blowout. Before it was capped 295 days later, it had poured some 531 million liters. What if the oil drilling at the Tañon Strait blows out? The accident would result in losses in the tourism business and the destruction of marine life.
There is considerable dispute, uncertainty and conflicting evidence concerning the short-term and long-term effects of oil on ocean ecosystems. For example, damaged to estuarine zone species from the spill of refined oil at West Falmouth, Massachusetts in 1969 was still being detected 10 years later.
Are the local government units strictly implementing the Salvage Zone Law, which prohibit physical structures within a distance of 30 meters along the beachfront at the highest tide? It is high time for Gov. Gwen Garcia to strictly implement the 30-meter Salvage Zone Law so as to follow free access on beachfronts.
