The Conservation of the Tubbataha Reefs National Marine Park (TRNMP) and World Heritage Park Project

The TRNMP stands out as one of the best managed offshore marine protected areas in the country. At the end of the GEF-funded project in 2004, the following improvements were recorded: in the biophysical conditions in the TRNMP, socio-economic benefits to the Cagayancillo fishers, increased institutional support, increasing visitor arrivals and user fee collections and improved enforcement. Structures and operating systems to run the park were established. A diver-fee system introduced in 2000 earned the park more than PhP 8.6 million in user-fee revenues from 3,045 guest-visits. The next phase will expand the scope of protection to 87,000 hectares to cover the adjacent reefs of Jessie Beazely and explore the establishment of a network of MPAs along the Cagayan Ridge, Sulu Sea. The project is supported by a grant from the Global Environment Facility through the United Nations Development Program, World Congress on Protected Areas and the Homeland Foundation through WWF-US.To know more about this project,
please email mdygico@wwf.org.ph