RP is center of marine biodiversity in the world
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100 scientists declare RP as world’s ‘center of marine biodiversity’
By Katherine Adraneda
The Philippine Star 06/08/2006
Some 100 scientists have declared the Philippines as the world’s "center of marine biodiversity" — not the Great Reef Barrier off east Australia — because of its vast species of marine and coastal resources, according to the World Bank.
However, the scientists raised the alarm that the country’s marine diversity is under threat of degradation.
Based on the WB report, "Philippine Environment Monitor 2005," the Philippines appears to be using its coastal resources "in a very inefficient manner" compared to other Southeast Asian countries.
The overall performance of the Philippines in marine and coastal resources conservation "is generally poor or very poor relative to other developing countries," the report added.
Elisea Gozun, former environment secretary and WB consultant, said the broad trends affecting the Philippine coastal areas include rapid population growth, widespread poverty, declining fishery productivity, increasing environmental damage and loss of biodiversity, and climate change.
"The coastal and marine waters of the Philippines are considered the center of marine biodiversity in the world," Gozun said during the National Forum on Sustainable Development of Coastal and Marine Resources at the Philippine Plaza hotel in Pasay City yesterday.
Gozun gave a presentation on the "State of Marine and Coastal Environment in the Philippines."
"(But) many of the important marine species in the Philippine marine environment are threatened (mainly by) habitat loss and degradation, pollution, destructive local and commercial fishing activities and rapid growth in Southeast Asian regional market for marine products," she said.
Her presentation is part of the Philippine Environment Monitor 2005, which hopefully will be released next month.
Gozun said the country’s fishery resources are considered more heavily exploited than elsewhere in the world, and that the country has the most degraded reefs compared to five other Southeast Asian countries, including Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia.
"The country’s total fisheries yield per year is estimated to be $2.5 billion, as more than one million people are employed in the fishing industry; 2.3 million tourists generated $1.99 million in tourist receipts in 2004; while 6.2 million are people employed in tourism-related businesses," she said.
Gozun said only seven percent of the country’s reefs have been declared as marine-protected areas, which is the lowest among Asian countries, as the mangrove decline in the Philippines is considered "very significant."
"But the country has to do more to sustain this, it has to face the challenges (to ensure conservation of marine and coastal resources) for the future," she said.
Gozun said the Philippines’ main fish species, such as round scad or galunggong and tuna, are showing "severe signs of overfishing," and that economic loss over fishing is estimated at about P6.5 billion per year in lost fish catches.
Increasing pollution of bodies of water resulting in harmful algal blooms or "red tide" had produced yearly losses in fish exports of around P1.6 billion during the 1990s, she added.
Gozun said the government should take action to increase the protection of threatened marine and coastal resources, improve local livelihood for communities in coastal areas, and strengthen and simplify institutional arrangements to achieve a sustainable marine and coastal resources.
"As it has always been said, we have so many good laws but we lack proper enforcement of these laws," she said.
During the same forum, President Arroyo announced that she had signed an executive order adopting the Integrated Coastal Management.
Mrs. Arroyo said she had directed Environment Secretary Angelo Reyes to lead the formulation of a national integrated coastal management plan jointly with other concerned government agencies such as the Departments of Agriculture, Interior and Local Government, Foreign Affairs, Tourism, Transportation and Communications, and the National Economic and Development Authority.
"We are the second largest archipelago in the world with a fragile island ecosystem," Mrs. Arroyo told guests and participants of the National Forum on Sustainable Development of Coastal and Marine Resources.
"To protect our coasts and marine waters, however, we must protect the entire environment — our forests, our lands, our waters, our air — for almost everything that ensues from environmental degradation flows down and impacts negatively on the quality of our seas," she said.
By Katherine Adraneda
The Philippine Star 06/08/2006
Some 100 scientists have declared the Philippines as the world’s "center of marine biodiversity" — not the Great Reef Barrier off east Australia — because of its vast species of marine and coastal resources, according to the World Bank.
However, the scientists raised the alarm that the country’s marine diversity is under threat of degradation.
Based on the WB report, "Philippine Environment Monitor 2005," the Philippines appears to be using its coastal resources "in a very inefficient manner" compared to other Southeast Asian countries.
The overall performance of the Philippines in marine and coastal resources conservation "is generally poor or very poor relative to other developing countries," the report added.
Elisea Gozun, former environment secretary and WB consultant, said the broad trends affecting the Philippine coastal areas include rapid population growth, widespread poverty, declining fishery productivity, increasing environmental damage and loss of biodiversity, and climate change.
"The coastal and marine waters of the Philippines are considered the center of marine biodiversity in the world," Gozun said during the National Forum on Sustainable Development of Coastal and Marine Resources at the Philippine Plaza hotel in Pasay City yesterday.
Gozun gave a presentation on the "State of Marine and Coastal Environment in the Philippines."
"(But) many of the important marine species in the Philippine marine environment are threatened (mainly by) habitat loss and degradation, pollution, destructive local and commercial fishing activities and rapid growth in Southeast Asian regional market for marine products," she said.
Her presentation is part of the Philippine Environment Monitor 2005, which hopefully will be released next month.
Gozun said the country’s fishery resources are considered more heavily exploited than elsewhere in the world, and that the country has the most degraded reefs compared to five other Southeast Asian countries, including Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia.
"The country’s total fisheries yield per year is estimated to be $2.5 billion, as more than one million people are employed in the fishing industry; 2.3 million tourists generated $1.99 million in tourist receipts in 2004; while 6.2 million are people employed in tourism-related businesses," she said.
Gozun said only seven percent of the country’s reefs have been declared as marine-protected areas, which is the lowest among Asian countries, as the mangrove decline in the Philippines is considered "very significant."
"But the country has to do more to sustain this, it has to face the challenges (to ensure conservation of marine and coastal resources) for the future," she said.
Gozun said the Philippines’ main fish species, such as round scad or galunggong and tuna, are showing "severe signs of overfishing," and that economic loss over fishing is estimated at about P6.5 billion per year in lost fish catches.
Increasing pollution of bodies of water resulting in harmful algal blooms or "red tide" had produced yearly losses in fish exports of around P1.6 billion during the 1990s, she added.
Gozun said the government should take action to increase the protection of threatened marine and coastal resources, improve local livelihood for communities in coastal areas, and strengthen and simplify institutional arrangements to achieve a sustainable marine and coastal resources.
"As it has always been said, we have so many good laws but we lack proper enforcement of these laws," she said.
During the same forum, President Arroyo announced that she had signed an executive order adopting the Integrated Coastal Management.
Mrs. Arroyo said she had directed Environment Secretary Angelo Reyes to lead the formulation of a national integrated coastal management plan jointly with other concerned government agencies such as the Departments of Agriculture, Interior and Local Government, Foreign Affairs, Tourism, Transportation and Communications, and the National Economic and Development Authority.
"We are the second largest archipelago in the world with a fragile island ecosystem," Mrs. Arroyo told guests and participants of the National Forum on Sustainable Development of Coastal and Marine Resources.
"To protect our coasts and marine waters, however, we must protect the entire environment — our forests, our lands, our waters, our air — for almost everything that ensues from environmental degradation flows down and impacts negatively on the quality of our seas," she said.
boljakool
Contributor
Thanks, Marvin & Jai. Great info.
As divers, we need to be more active in helping to conserve the marine ecosystem that we all love to explore.
As divers, we need to be more active in helping to conserve the marine ecosystem that we all love to explore.
jonix
Contributor
yey! 
:scubadive kaya hali na at mag ISKEWBA DAYBING na!
boljakool
Contributor
Here's the one that came out from PDI:
WORLD OCEAN DAY
RP is center of marine biodiversity in the world
First posted 03:55am (Mla time) June 08, 2006
By Blanche S. Rivera
Inquirer
Editor's Note: Published on Page A1 of the June 8, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
AUSTRALIA’S Great Barrier Reef may be the largest, most famous dive site in the world, but those who brave adverse travel advisories to delve deep into Philippine waters have the best bragging right, after all.
The Philippines is the center of marine fish biodiversity and the home of the most diverse marine ecosystem in the world, a recent study by American biologists Kent Carpenter and Victor Springer revealed.
The study, titled “The Center of the Marine Shore Fish Diversity: The Philippine Islands,” was published last year in the Environmental Biology of Fishes Journal No. 72 and cited in the latest Philippines Environment Monitor (PEM) published by the World Bank.
“We marvel at the Great Barrier Reef, but did you know that a group of some 100 scientists has said that the Philippines is the center of marine biodiversity in the world?” former Environment Secretary Elisea Gozun said in her presentation of the status of the country’s coastal and marine resources at the Philippine Plaza Hotel in Pasay City yesterday.
Before the publication of Carpenter’s and Springer’s study, Wallacea in Indonesia was considered the center of marine biodiversity in the world, but a closer look revealed that central Philippines had a “higher concentration of species per unit area than anywhere else in Indonesia.”
Following the Philippines in marine biodiversity concentration and endemism are Malaysia, Sumatra and Australia, respectively.
Second largest reef
Most of the endemic species in the Philippines are found in the Verde Island Passage between Mindoro island and the main island of Luzon.
The Philippines also has the second largest reef in the world, the 34-km Apo Reef located 24 km west of Sablayan town, Occidental Mindoro province, and 33 km northeast of the Calamian Group of Islands in northern Palawan province, according to Gozun.
The status and management of the country’s coastal and marine resources were presented to government officials, environmental organizations and the media during the national forum on sustainable development of coastal and marine resources yesterday.
World Ocean Day
The Philippines joins the celebration of World Ocean Day today with a reiteration of the Philippines’ commitment to the Putrajaya Declaration forging an Integrated Coastal Management system among Southeast Asian countries.
“In this part of the world, particularly, the seas of East Asia provide a significant portion of the region’s economic base, with a larger portion of the economic activities in the coastal cities,” Nileema Noble, United Nations Development Program resident representative, said in a speech in the same forum.
About 10 million fisherfolk and 50 million people are dependent on the region’s seas for their livelihood, Noble said.
Using data from the PEM 2005, Gozun said that the Philippines’ 26,000 sq km of coral reefs contribute $1.064 billion annually to the Philippine economy through direct and indirect services such as fisheries and tourism.
“When your area is being promoted as a tourism site, you have no alternative but to protect it, or you can kiss your investments goodbye,” Gozun said, addressing the local officials at the forum.
Most threatened
She said that while the Philippines was the center of marine biodiversity, it also has the region’s most threatened coral reefs, sea grass beds and mangroves.
Ninety-eight percent of the country’s reefs are threatened while 70 percent of mangroves have been lost or converted to fish ponds in the past 70 years.
“Compared to other countries with similar coastal resources, the Philippines appears to be using its coastal resources in a very inefficient manner,” Gozun said.
The country has 64 provinces and 832 municipalities along its 36,289-km coastline.
WORLD OCEAN DAY
RP is center of marine biodiversity in the world
First posted 03:55am (Mla time) June 08, 2006
By Blanche S. Rivera
Inquirer
Editor's Note: Published on Page A1 of the June 8, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
AUSTRALIA’S Great Barrier Reef may be the largest, most famous dive site in the world, but those who brave adverse travel advisories to delve deep into Philippine waters have the best bragging right, after all.
The Philippines is the center of marine fish biodiversity and the home of the most diverse marine ecosystem in the world, a recent study by American biologists Kent Carpenter and Victor Springer revealed.
The study, titled “The Center of the Marine Shore Fish Diversity: The Philippine Islands,” was published last year in the Environmental Biology of Fishes Journal No. 72 and cited in the latest Philippines Environment Monitor (PEM) published by the World Bank.
“We marvel at the Great Barrier Reef, but did you know that a group of some 100 scientists has said that the Philippines is the center of marine biodiversity in the world?” former Environment Secretary Elisea Gozun said in her presentation of the status of the country’s coastal and marine resources at the Philippine Plaza Hotel in Pasay City yesterday.
Before the publication of Carpenter’s and Springer’s study, Wallacea in Indonesia was considered the center of marine biodiversity in the world, but a closer look revealed that central Philippines had a “higher concentration of species per unit area than anywhere else in Indonesia.”
Following the Philippines in marine biodiversity concentration and endemism are Malaysia, Sumatra and Australia, respectively.
Second largest reef
Most of the endemic species in the Philippines are found in the Verde Island Passage between Mindoro island and the main island of Luzon.
The Philippines also has the second largest reef in the world, the 34-km Apo Reef located 24 km west of Sablayan town, Occidental Mindoro province, and 33 km northeast of the Calamian Group of Islands in northern Palawan province, according to Gozun.
The status and management of the country’s coastal and marine resources were presented to government officials, environmental organizations and the media during the national forum on sustainable development of coastal and marine resources yesterday.
World Ocean Day
The Philippines joins the celebration of World Ocean Day today with a reiteration of the Philippines’ commitment to the Putrajaya Declaration forging an Integrated Coastal Management system among Southeast Asian countries.
“In this part of the world, particularly, the seas of East Asia provide a significant portion of the region’s economic base, with a larger portion of the economic activities in the coastal cities,” Nileema Noble, United Nations Development Program resident representative, said in a speech in the same forum.
About 10 million fisherfolk and 50 million people are dependent on the region’s seas for their livelihood, Noble said.
Using data from the PEM 2005, Gozun said that the Philippines’ 26,000 sq km of coral reefs contribute $1.064 billion annually to the Philippine economy through direct and indirect services such as fisheries and tourism.
“When your area is being promoted as a tourism site, you have no alternative but to protect it, or you can kiss your investments goodbye,” Gozun said, addressing the local officials at the forum.
Most threatened
She said that while the Philippines was the center of marine biodiversity, it also has the region’s most threatened coral reefs, sea grass beds and mangroves.
Ninety-eight percent of the country’s reefs are threatened while 70 percent of mangroves have been lost or converted to fish ponds in the past 70 years.
“Compared to other countries with similar coastal resources, the Philippines appears to be using its coastal resources in a very inefficient manner,” Gozun said.
The country has 64 provinces and 832 municipalities along its 36,289-km coastline.
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See.....we knew that we had a great thing going here!! Now let the world's divers bring their money and spend it here too!!
Saddleback
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Money coming in from foreign divers is no problem, especially after they read this report. However, I think the main issue that both press releases was making was HOW DO WE MANAGE OUR RESOURCES? In other words how does this new money filter down to the communities and agencies that will watch over our waters? The philippine navy and coastguard is almost non-existent, the tubbataha rangers are on a threadbare budget; i don't know if Apo even has a proper ranger station itself (?).
Corruption across too many agencies is the problem. What we need is a centralized independent marine protection agency with full powers that supersede even vested coastline municipal interests. Easier said than done.
Corruption across too many agencies is the problem. What we need is a centralized independent marine protection agency with full powers that supersede even vested coastline municipal interests. Easier said than done.
c'mon guys, that report has been posted by our Marine institute guys since lanst year !
TomDVh and Chip and Iris i think posted the report in a sectin here somewhere.... it just takes that long for the bureacracies here to publicise those things...
just giving credit to the guys .... here is one
http://74.52.40.173/showthread.php?t=79859&highlight=center+of+marine+biodiversity+in+the+world
and i think chip or iris posted an update on that report....
.
TomDVh and Chip and Iris i think posted the report in a sectin here somewhere.... it just takes that long for the bureacracies here to publicise those things...
just giving credit to the guys .... here is one
http://74.52.40.173/showthread.php?t=79859&highlight=center+of+marine+biodiversity+in+the+world
and i think chip or iris posted an update on that report....
.
clgsamson
Koya Kap
why do you have to mention money? I'd say bring the world's divers here to see the beauty of the Philippines, topside and uw.Babydamulag:
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