Guimaras, sea advocates mull sustainable coastal management

August 18th, 2008 | by Site Administrator |

TWO years after a devastating oil spill, the provincial government of Guimaras is formally forging ties with the Partnership for Environmental Management for Seas of East Asia (PEMSEA) for integrated coastal management.

PEMSEA focuses on integrated coastal management initiatives, said Gov. Felipe Hilan Nava.

He considered the partnership with PEMSEA as “timely.”

The oil spill struck Guimaras on August 11, 2006 after oil tanker M/T Solar 1 carrying some two million liters of bunker fuel sank at the Iloilo-Guimaras Strait. It resulted to the loss of livelihood, environmental destruction and decline in the tourism industry, among others.

In today’s signing of the memorandum of agreement, PEMSEA will be represented by Raphael Lotilla, its country coordinator.

Guimaras is the fourth province in the country to join PEMSEA. The first three others were Batangas, Cavite and Bataan.

“The agreement will focus on anti-poverty activities, water system and solid waste management to prevent inland wastes from going into coastal areas. It will assess the carrying capacity of the island and volume of water source to cater to the needs of the population,” Nava said.

Nava seeks a “balanced management of terrestrial and coastal ecosystems.”

For over a decade, PEMSEA has been active in the pursuit of sustainable development, protecting life-support systems and enabling the sustainable use and management of coastal and marine resources through intergovernmental, interagency and multi-sectoral partnerships.

According to its website www.pemsea.org, the organization has developed management-related methodologies, techniques, working models and standards to strengthen practical efforts in the field.

Guimaras marked the second anniversary of the oil spill last week. Nava lamented that time was too short for concerned government agencies to implement all the projects that have been identified in the Guimaras rehabilitation plan.

“We have to scale down our targets, eliminating altogether some projects which can be implemented later using other fund sources,” he said.

A budget of P867 million was approved by the 13th Congress for the rehabilitation of the province. Only P120 million was released to the provincial government; the rest were released to concerned government line agencies.

The entire fund, however, was not used due to delayed releases and lengthy utilization processes, according to Nava.

Among those that were implemented included livelihood and infrastructure projects, rehabilitation of badly hit coastal areas, and scientific researches.

The tourism industry, Nava said, is picking up again although there is no definite data as to the status of the economic food chain in the province.

David Israel Sinay, Panay News