Philippines commits to protect the oceans
MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines has set its voluntary commitments to protect and conserve the oceans at the Philippine Ocean Conference held in Cebu City last week.The conference is in response to the United Nations’ call for concrete actions to protect the oceans and achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14: Life Below Water.
The Philippines’ voluntary commitments will be presented during the Ocean Conference to be held in New York on June 5-9.
The Philippines is one of the 18 mega-diverse countries in the world, harboring two-thirds of the earth’s biodiversity and home to between 70-80 percent of the world’s plant and animal species. The coastal waters of the Philippines boast of the highest marine biodiversity in the world – a total of 464 reef-building coral species or nearly half of all known coral species in the world, and an estimated 10,000 aquatic species or approximately one fifth of all known species globally.
In fact, the country’s marine waters are seen as the epicenter of marine biodiversity on earth. In 2012, the Philippines ranked 7th in the top fish producing countries in the world.
The Philippine Ocean Conference will develop voluntary commitments from relevant national, regional and local agencies as well as private sector, multilateral and bilateral agencies and the academe.
The Philippines’ voluntary commitments will be registered to the Ocean Action Hub, http://www.oceanactionhub.org/, which is the platform developed for individuals and organisations concerned about the future of our Oceans – whether as a local or global activist, a scientific expert, or a government representative. The data gathered from the Ocean Action Hub will help formulate the global “Call for Action” that will be presented at the Ocean Conference in New York.
The Philippine Ocean Conference was attended by close to 140 stakeholders. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources, through the Biodiversity Management Bureau, and the Department of Agriculture through the Bureau of Fisheries and Agricultural Research, hosted the national consultation with support from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
