Source : Inquirer, Philippines, 21 Oct '07
By : TJ Burgonio
  

Satellite pictures from the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (NAMRIA) indicated that the cover has reached 289,890 hectares, according to the Coastal and Marine Management Office (CMMO).

"We have 289,890 hectares, and we're trying to validate this figure on the ground whether this is true or not,'' CMMO executive director Florendo Barangan said in a recent briefing. The CMMO is under the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

If confirmed, the increasing cover could be attributed to a host of non-governmental organizations who raised public awareness on the need to protect mangrove forests, Barangan said.

The country's mangrove cover was a robust 500,000 ha in the 1900s, but this dwindled to 112,000 ha in 1998 from over-exploitation, conversion of areas to other uses and logging of watersheds, according to studies.

Most mangroves were cut for their timber, or were converted into shrimp ponds or fish farms. Their disappearance became noticeable in the 1970s. This resulted in the deterioration of sea grass and coral reef ecosystems, studies said.

Only four percent of the 27,000 square kilometers of the country's coral reefs are in excellent condition, according to Theresa Mundita Lim of the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau (PAWB).

Alarmed by their denudation, conservation groups sought protection of mangroves through the passage of new rules and regulations, including setting up watch stations in swamps.

Barangan also said that CMMO included several cities and municipalities in its $61-million Integrated Coastal Resource Management (ICRM), which seeks to protect coastal resources in the country.

The project provides community based approaches to the sustainable development and management of mangroves, sea grass bed, coral reefs and other coastal resources.

According to Perry Aliño, chair of the Marine Protected Areas Support Network (MSN), the country's rich marine resource was under "serious threat'' because of the dwindling mangrove cover, and the destruction of coral reefs and seabed grass.

MSN and the Coastal Zone Philippines are holding a summit on sustainable financing and marine protected areas on Oct. 27 and 28 in Iloilo City to draw up an action plan that will plug the gaps in MPA management such as weak governance and poor compliance of stakeholders.