Mitigating the negative impacts of global climate change in Boracay

BORACAY— “…While we play on our golden sands and share our islands’ beauty with the tourists we welcome, while we play cricket and soccer in the surf and watch our picnic fires burn, we do not see the changing contours of the beach line. We do not note the slow march inland. We hop over the piles of litter and flotsam. We take little notice of the vanishing species from the reefs, or the dying coral, until they are long gone.” (Herman Belmar, 2001)

Boracay – A paradise…heaven on earth?

People who visit Boracay all agree that indeed, this island is one of our precious gems. It is one of the country’s most popular tourist destinations, a “paradise… heaven on earth” and is considered one of the finest beaches of the world. At the height of the tourist season, as much as 80,000 people live in the island, compared to the original local population of 8,000 in 1986.

Boracay Island, located in the Western Visayas region, comprises the barangays of Manoc-Manoc, Balabag and Yapak (three of the 17 barangays, which make up the municipality of Malay). It is under the administrative control of the Philippine Tourism Authority in coordination with the Provincial Government of Aklan.

The best part of the island is the four-kilometer stretch known as “White Beach” with very fine powdery sand and pristine clear blue waters. It is divided into three stations: Stations 1, 2 and 3. Along the beachfront are resorts, hotels, restaurants, bars, dive shops, D’Mall, D’ Talipapa (marketplace), Willy’s Rock (a natural rock formation), tourism information centers, etc.

You can reach Boracay by sea, air and land. The easiest way to travel is to take a plane from Manila domestic airport and fly to Panay island in the Visayas. You can fly (one hour) directly to either the cities of Kalibo or Caticlan. From Kalibo, you can take a bus to Caticlan (two hours). From Caticlan, a five-minute ferry will take you to Boracay Island jetty port. Another way to get to Boracay is to take an air-conditioned bus from Manila to Batangas. You can also board the ferry service from Manila that takes a night to reach Boracay. By the way, Boracay is served by three ports: New Washington, Dumaguit, and Batan, Aklan.

UNESCO marine scientists share knowledge and expertise on ‘small island’ management

For three days, 12 members of the UNESCO National Committee on Marine Sciences (NCMS) shared with the community of Boracay knowledge and expertise essential in mitigating the negative impacts of Global Climate Change (GCC). They also mobilized them to adapt to these changes, especially in relation to their livelihood base, which is tourism.

Since 1994, the activities within the Outreach Marine Programme of the NCMS have been held in 15 different coastal towns in the archipelago, from Basco, Batanes in the north to Surigao City, Surigao del Norte and Zamboanga City, Zamboanga del Sur in the south. It involved multi-sectoral participants, especially those who are operating businesses that contribute to the tourism industry, fishermen, operators of the fishing industry, hotel owners and restaurant operators, among others.

The workshop-seminar was led by Dr. Rolu Encarnacion of PAG-ASA DOST and the incoming committee chairman Dr. Mike Fortes, professor of UP Marine Science Institute. They recalled that when tourists began to discover Boracay in 1986, during President Cory Aquino’s administration, then DOT official Nars Lim put together with a team, which included Dr. Fortes, three volumes of the Boracay Master Plan. If followed, the various conflicts that have arisen now would have been prevented.

Dr. Fortes agrees with his colleagues that the “carrying capacity” of the small island has exceeded its limits. With transportation cost escalating, service providers from Aklan, Romblon and Marinduque can no longer commute, so the population has increased to 40,000 but at peak season it doubles up with local and foreign tourists. Thus, water is now “imported” from Aklan, waste disposal problem is very serious and the limited space has been squeezed by hotels, including three to five hundred-room hotel establishments.

Land erosion and water condition

Before the NCMS team arrived, Dr. Fortes with Vanessa Garon and his two students surveyed the ocean situation. The reefs around the whole island have been destroyed by old dynamite fishing. Now, fish and seafood are brought in daily from Capiz and Aklan.

With the absence of reefs, the whiplash of waves during typhoon season has been changing the shape of the island. The 25-meter rule between the waters and the hotels can no longer be observed because coastal flooding is more frequent causing the shoreline to advance towards the establishments.

Francisco “Jun” Torres Jr., aquaculturist of the National Fisheries Research and Development Institute, warned of the importance of an Ocean Watch team. The discoloration of the water could spill the harmful “red tide”, especially with the rise in temperature. He warns of excessive sewage disposal from numerous establishments endangering water purity. Fortunately, the water current of Tablas Strait of Romblon, which helps wash away the Boracay sewage, lessens the danger.

Can the coral reefs be revived?

Cyrus, skipper of the glass-bottom boat, lamented that the reefs have no chance of revival since hundreds of ferryboats, which ply constantly between Caticlan and the Boracay ports, drop their heavy anchor on the coral reefs. It gets worse with the larger “roro” boats and fishing boats, who do not follow the parking areas designated by the municipality.

Ed Sancho, a former banker now the executive assistant of Malay Aklan Aceron Cawaling, told him that this should have been reported to the local police. Cyrus complained that he has done so but nothing has happened.

Dr. Fortes cited an earlier study of a Canadian researcher on how many boats can sustain the island of Boracay; and the need to limit the sea lane boundaries away from the reefs. This should be updated. In his presentation, his ideal picture of a coastal community showed the need to apply “soft engineering” with re-planting mangroves or seagrass to encourage new corals to grow. “Hard engineering” requires stone rip-rapping of the shores.

Lieutenant JG May Marfil of the Coast Guard Staff for Marine Environment Protection, cited maritime statistics of the Philippines that maritime versus land area is – 9 is to 1. Of 7,107 islands there are 27,000 sq. km of coral reefs, and 150,000 hectares of mangrove forests. There are 58 coastal provinces out of 77; 914 coastal municipalities out of 1,385; and 11,000 coastal barangays.

Nature of conflicts

Following the national workshops of “Wise Coastal Practices for Beach Management” held in the eastern Caribbean islands, the analysis showed that major conflicts were between: developers and beach-user groups; coastal landowners and the public over the right of access to the beach; sand mining operators and beach users; coastal property owners protecting their land from inundation by the sea and other beach users; and persons dumping solid and other waste at the beach or inland and beach users.

The coast plays an important role in island life and almost every economic sector has a strong stake in the coast. Due to the dependency on the coast, it is impossible to allocate the use of the coast or beach to a single economic sector for development or to give one sector priority over another. There always arise conflicts and struggles among private and quasi-private property-based operations on the shore, and public (common) property-based activities on the beach and in the coastal waters. There are also conflicts between regulatory agencies and developers wanting to do as they wish in coastal areas, and between regulatory agencies and elected members of government, who may wish to ignore various regulations and policies in the name of development and short-term economic gain. Therefore, it is essential that there be a coastal management process in place which has a mechanism to cope with conflict resolution.

In many islands, the indigenous population has taken it for granted that the coastal areas and the beaches would always be available for their use and enjoyment. However, with the expanding tourism industry conflicts are arising and islanders are concerned about their “presumed rights”. Land tenure is also a major cause of conflict. The granting of property rights without giving the necessary consideration to customary resource users has, in many cases, undermined the “common” or “public” status of the beach.

(Next week: Part 2 – Involving NGOs in coastal management)

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