Gov't, private sector partner to protect Coral Triangle

Protecting the Coral Triangle a top priority Protecting the biodiversity-rich Coral Triangle needs the combined efforts of the government and private sector, and should be a priority if the region wants to sustain the area's vast fishery resource, experts said on Tuesday. The First Coral Triangle Business Summit kicked off at the Makati Shangri-La with speakers highlighting the need to protect the area, which is home to over a third of the world's coral reefs. "We want to add our organized businessmen's voices to the growing clamor for nations, particularly the developed countries, to take more responsibility for the damage they have wrought on our environment all these past years," President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said in her opening remarks. Mrs. Arroyo said governments want to show that environmental protection, economic growth and poverty reduction "can coexist side by side and mutually prosper by exploring business initiatives that support both." The so-called Coral Triangle harbors about 600 species of reef-building coral, or three-quarter of all known coral species, and over 3,000 species of reef fish. It holds nearly three-fourths of the world's mangrove species. The 2.3-million square mile area covers the Philippines, Timor-Leste, Indonesia, Sabah in Malaysia, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. The Coral Triangle, which provides $1.6 billion in economic benefits per year to the Philippines, is threatened by overfishing, environmental degradation and climate change, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). To encourage participation from the private sector, the government should come out with the basis or framework for "eco-friendly" investments, a businessman said. "We all recognize that the government should create a framework for sustainable and green investments," former Energy secretary Vincent S. Perez, chief executive of renewable power producer Alternergy Partners and president of energy advisory firm Merritt Partners, told delegates. For instance, the Renewable Energy Bill will encourage more companies like resorts and hotels operating on the shores of the Coral Triangle to obtain power from renewable energy, he said. Furthermore, governments should document and disseminate success stories for replication within the Coral Triangle, Perez added. Lida Pet-Soede, head of the WWF's Coral Triangle program, earlier said the ecosystem in the Coral Triangle and the fishing industry that depends on it would collapse if governments and companies continue in a business-as-usual manner. But the private sector has complained that lack of funds prevents the upgrade of equipment and efforts to achieve an environmentally sustainable business. Agriculture Secretary Arthur C. Yap said official donors could fill the gap. "What I am really looking forward to is to get a response from funding agencies especially on how we can partner for support on best practices," Yap said in a press briefing. Blane Olson, managing director of tuna producer Clearsmoke Technologies, said in the briefing that companies could partner with agencies like the WWF and the German Technical Cooperation, like what firms in Indonesia did. "It is important for the commercial sector to engage nongovernment organizations in their projects because of their specialties on both sides, and also funding," Olson said. An estimated 363 million people live within the Coral Triangle, with 120 million people living along coastal communities, data from the WWF showed. In 2008, member countries of the Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) adopted the Regional Action Plan involving "high-level leadership and policy reforms, sustainable management of marine resources, and regional and multi-stakeholder partnerships." An expected outcome of the event was the "showcase of some early good practices that have been working on sustainability for the past two to three years," Olson said. The officials will sign today an agreement implementing the use of circle hooks to avoid catching sea turtles during long-line tuna fishing operations. — Neil Jerome C. Morales, BusinessWorld