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01 July 2010 Guidebook on coral reef protection launched [Keyword: coral reef ]
Local government units (LGUs) and fishersfolk in the Philippines, which encompasses the Coral Triangle Region, known as the world’s center of marine biodiversity, will find a useful guide to monitor marine protection in a more comprehensive but easy-to-use guidebook released Tuesday.
The six countries encompassing the Region are Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Solomon Islands, and Timor-Leste.
Dr. Perry Aliño, coral reef and ecology expert of the University of the Philippines-Marine Science Institute (UP-MSI) said the Coral Reef Monitoring for Management Guidebook will help LGUs and fisherfolks to measure the effectiveness of their initiatives, especially in marine protected area (MPA) management and planning succeeding programs.
He explained that the guidebook is a “highly-visual” publication that provides step-by-step instruction on drawing up a reef monitoring plan, survey methods, conducting a fish visual census, recording human activities, and natural disturbances that could impact on the marine environment and monitoring fish catch.
“It also includes instructions on how to do a simple MPA perception survey, which helps MPA managers measure whether or not stakeholders believe that they are benefiting from the resource management efforts,” Aliño said.
He cited that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) projects and their partners can use the manual to monitor improvements in the ecological conditions of coral reefs within the Coral Triangle.
Healthy coral reefs in the Region is estimated to provide a net present value of at least P4 million per square kilometer per year derived from fisheries, tourism, coastal protection, health, and livelihood, goods and services, he pointed out.
The Triangle contains 75 percent of the coral species in the world.
About 53 percent of the world’s coral reefs that exhibit climate change resilience and 40 percent of all coral reef species are also found in the Region.
However, overfishing, destructive fishing practices, unsustainable coastal development, pollution and impacts of climate change caused massive destruction in the Coral Triangle’s marine biodiversity.
He noted that if the coral reefs of the Philippines remained healthy, these would have contributed at least P80 billion annually to the economy.
“Also in the manual are samples of forms that will aid in the monitoring activities. Tips and suggestions are provided at each chapter,” he said.
He pointed out that the guidebook released Tuesday was a second edition book, which has been translated into Bahasa, Thai, Khmer, Vietnamese, and Chinese.
“This has allowed the adoption of the guidebook as a tool in MPA management towards conserving marine key biodiversity areas in Southeast Asia,” he said.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) — funded Philippine Environmental Governance Project (EcoGov) and its partners have utilized the methods contained in the manual for the participatory monitoring of its MPA sites in Illana Bay in Zamboanga del Sur, Davao Gulf in Davao, and Camotes Sea in Cebu.
The second edition guidebook is printed by the EcoGov, Fisheries Improved for Sustainable Harvest Project, the DENR, and the Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.
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