NEWSROOM

WWF Philippines: Guimaras and Beyond

by Jose Ma. Lorenzo Tan, President and CEO, WWF-Philippines

WWF's primary interest is to help save the Guimaras Strait, and restore its natural productivity. This is not a short-term commitment.

We believe that the best way to fuel this effort is through active engagement with all players that have shown an interest in working together in an inclusive process leading toward sustainable solutions.

There are many qualified, highly motivated stakeholders on the front lines. Similarly, there are many interested individuals, corporations and institutions with regional, national and global mandates. We will work with them.

There is much work that needs to be done, involving many disciplines. Careful ecological assessments need to be done. Temporary alternative livelihoods need to be provided and sustainable sources of income must be put in place. All the remaining oil residuals need to be recovered quickly and removed safely. A multi-year ecological rehabilitation and recovery plan needs to be formulated, and embedded into the province's own master plan. This template will be essential for monitoring, evaluation and, most important of all, continuity. A round table conference must be organized to integrate resource pledges and address funding gaps. The rehabilitation and biological recovery efforts need to be started, set into motion and structured for continuity, and lasting impact.

Many of the short-term interventions are already being implemented by local stakeholders, and funded, primarily, by government and insurance. This must continue. All of these programs, both immediate and long term - must involve Guimarasnons. They must share authorship and responsibility because this is their future, more than it is ours.

WWF hopes to play a role that will facilitate better programming and coordination. In a resource poor arena such as ours, synergy and efficiency are key success variables.

We hope to help UP Visayas establish a solid scientific platform for an effective and quantifiable multi-year initiative, planned, implemented and monitored primarily by local stakeholders, that will result in positive, measurable impacts. A science-based, community-led plan is the catalyst for continuity, transparency, accountability, and ultimately, quantifiable results. The rehabilitation of Guimaras must not be merely a scientific or a political exercise, rather it must be a replicable model that communities, corporations and local governments can emulate and benefit from.

The work goes beyond Guimaras. WWF already works throughout the archipelago. We see ourselves influencing and driving forward-looking policies and better governance within regulatory agencies and corporations, to benefit the greater good.

WWF has already proposed a review of all shipping routes, both for domestic and international vessels, with the objective of mapping out particularly sensitive shipping areas, and pushing for the enforcement of higher standards of vessel design and certification, appropriate insurance coverage. We have already suggested the creation of a Philippine Oil Spill Trust Fund, contributory in nature, that will provide both a quick response source of funds and a fallback for future insurance failures in the future. This should be managed by a composite multi-stakeholder committee with a national mandate, rather than by a government agency exclusively. The emphasis must be on cost-efficiency and function, rather than on form. We have asked for a review of clearance requirements of all hazardous cargo, especially in inclement weather and encouraged greater sectoral participation in this process. We have insisted on the expansion and enhancement of oil spill response capacity in and around all ports where hazardous cargo is sourced or received. The emphasis on oil spill management should focus on containment, recovery and safe disposal. In all fishery dependent areas sensitive to toxicity, the current expensive practice that encourages chemical dispersal should be made a last option, to be used only in extreme circumstances.

More than anything, we hope to advance a process through which more Filipinos can learn, once again, to work together. This is not a political game - rather it is a matter of national survival. We are an ecology-dependent economy.

Around 1900, we had close to 22 Million hectares of forest, most of it old growth. Today, we have less than 500,000 hectares of old growth natural forest left. No forests? No water. No water? No rice. Most of our major watersheds are threatened by in-migration and land conversion. Close to half of all Filipinos depend on agriculture for their primary source of income.

At one time, we had 25,000 square kilometres of coral reef. Today, barely 1% is pristine and more than 60% is unhealthy. At one time, we had close to 500,000 hectares of mangrove forest. 50% is gone, victims of coastal conversion. Close to half of all municipalities are along the coastline, and half of all Filipinos depend on seafood as their primary source of protein.

Our population, now sitting at 87 Million, may hit close to 100 Million within the decade. Close to 25 Million Filipinos survive on less than P100 per day. The environment is the social security system of the poor.

We have 30 Million hectares of land. Close to 21 Million hectares is built up. We have 6 Million hectares of protected areas and over a thousand forest management contracts. We have close to 6 Million hectares of ancestral domains. Then, above that, we have millions of hectares of mining claims. We have allocated more land than we actually have. We are a nation of overlaps. We must learn how to live together to restore and sustainably manage our land and our seas, equitably sharing what little we have left. It is a matter of survival.

We no longer have the luxury of time.

Guimaras sends a signal that we must not ignore. In-fighting will only drive us deeper into the hole. There is a time for politics, and rivalry, and competition. This is a time for solutions. WWF's goal is to help find, build and mainstream those solutions - science-based, ecologically-sound, operationally-sustainable ? planned, implemented and evaluated by communities, that result in more food on the table, more money in the pocket and a better quality of life for all Filipinos.