THREE departments signed on to a joint memorandum circular outlining new rules for managing marine protected area networks (MPANs), restore damaged coastal ecosystems, and preserve marine habitats, including coral reefs.
The Departments of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Agriculture (DA), and Interior and Local Government (DILG) is seen as a win for efforts to maintain biodiversity, according to SMARTSeas, a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)-supported project.
“The eventual approval of the joint policy guidelines on the establishment and management of MPANs will be valuable in biodiversity conservation efforts,” SMARTSeas National Project Manager Vincent V. Hilomen said in a statement.
The memorandum circular places biodiversity conservation on equal footing with economic development.
“There will be a value for a government policy that places conservation as equally important to development and progress. Many of the degraded coastal and marine habitats resulted from the relentless push for development and progress with little afterthought of the higher costs to the environment,” Mr. Hilomen said.
MPAN is a collection of individual MPAs or reserves operating cooperatively under the Strengthening Marine Protected Areas to Conserve Marine Key Biodiversity Areas (SMARTSeas) project.
The protection regime for coastal ecosystems classified as MPAs includes patrolling, surveillance of habitats, and repair of signage, other facilities, and equipment.
“One of the greatest challenges that we are experiencing in establishing MPANs is still the acceptance of the community. There are several instances where the communities resist to set aside a portion of their waters for protection purposes because they think that access to their fishing areas will be limited,” Mr. Hilomen added. — Luisa Maria Jacinta C. Jocson