Together with the Koalisyon Kontra Kumbersyon ng Manila Bay (KKK-Manila Bay), Pamalakaya expressed skepticism about the plan to develop artificial mangrove areas which are also promised to provide jobs to small fishers and residents of coastal towns, noting that several projects that will lead to massive destruction of mangrove areas are already in the pipe-line.
Pamalakaya and KKK-Manila Bay have been calling on the Aquino administration to junk all reclamation projects being worked out by concerned government agencies, such as the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA), which has been promoting the massive reclamation of coastal areas that will lead to the massive destruction of existing mangrove areas, instead of protecting them from destructive human activities.
“The Public-Private Partnership (PPP) development blue print of the Aquino administration promotes the destruction of mangrove areas through reclamation and conversion as seen in the previous and current experiences of Manila Bay, Laguna Lake, Cebu, Panglao in Bohol and in Boracay in Aklan. Now, President Aquino wants to develop artificial mangrove areas while destroying the original ones to pave way for PPP projects. What kind of a policy is this?” Pamalakaya national chairperson and KKK-Manila Bay convener Fernando Hicap said in a press statement.
Hicap was referring to the mangrove reforestation program earlier announced by Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) director Asis Perez.
According to the BFAR official, a total of P237.5 million was allocated to build new mangrove areas and fish farms for mangroves.
The project, according to Perez, will directly benefit fishers and their families, create more jobs, and result in improving and protecting aquatic resources, adding that the mangrove project is in response to the current situation where the country’s mangrove hectarage has drastically declined over the years due to neglect and the development of coastal communities.
The DA-BFAR’s reforestation program is aimed at rehabilitating the country’s mangrove cover, which shrunk by more than 80 percent from its pristine state of half a billion hectares in the early 1900s.
Aside from helping preserve the marine environment, mangroves also protect coastal communities against typhoon surges and tsunamis. They also prevent soil erosion and trap carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from the atmosphere to mitigate global warming.
The BFAR targets the planting of 100 million mangrove propagules or mangrove shoots in the next three years.
Hicap, however, maintained that the policy, program and politics of reclamation and conversion of coastal communities and mangrove areas into industrial and commercial hubs and eco-tourism enclaves over the last 50 years tells a different a story.
(Jonathan Mayuga)
