Batangas cited for protecting coastal ecosystem

BATANGAS CITY — An environmental group has awarded the province of Batangas for its outstanding work in integrated coastal management (ICM), including the rehabilitation of coastal habitats and fisheries.

Dr. Chua Thia-Eng, regional program director of the Partnership in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia (PEMSEA), handed over the award to Batangas Gov. Arman Sanchez during the recent East Asian Seas Congress held at the People’s Hall of Haikou City in China,

The province was also recognized for its initiative in tracking changes in the coastal ecosystem through integrated environmental monitoring, replicating and scaling up of ICM practices in coastal towns, and institutionalizing a province-wide, multisectoral, multi-agency ICM coordinating mechanism.

Countries bordering the East Asian seas founded the PEMSEA in 1994 in response to the need for sustainable development of shared waters and coastal and marine resources in the region.

The PEMSEA is an inter-governmental, inter-agency and inter-sectoral partnership set up as a regional project of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), implemented by the United Nations Development Program and executed by the International Maritime Organization.

The PEMSEA evolved as a regional project on marine pollution prevention and management under the GEF pilot phase, joined in 11 countries in the region.

In the second phase, 12 member-countries focused on building partnerships on environmental management for the seas of East Asia.

Aside from Batangas, the other members of the PEMSEA network of local governments include Bali, Indonesia; Chonburi, Thailand; Danang, Vietnam; Nampho, Korea; Port Klang, Malaysia; Shihwa, Korea; Sihanoukville, Cambodia; Sukabuni, Indonesia; Quangnan and Xiamen, China, and Bataan and Cavite in the Philippines.

The seas of East Asia cover six large marine ecosystems and their respective watershed areas, which are rich in natural resources.

These ecosystems host an estimated 30 percent of the world’s coral reefs, account for over half of global fishery production and 80 percent of its aquaculture, and contributes up to 60 percent of the gross production of some countries in the region.