MANILA, Philippines - The League of Municipalities of the Philippines (LMP), headed by its national president Mayor Donato Marcos of Paombong, Bulacan, has co-sponsored a forum on coral reefs, fisheries and food security with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) under the auspices of the Coral Triangle Initiative.
LMP officials hosted mayors from Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Timor Leste during the four-day forum that ended yesterday at the Heritage Hotel.
Aside from bringing in close to 50 local government leaders in the Coral Triangle region, the forum aimed to facilitate the sharing of good practices and strategies in local environmental governance, sustainable coastal management, and community resiliency among the six countries.
The Coral Triangle Initiative was established in 2007 to address the urgent threats facing the coastal and marine resources of one of the most biologically diverse and ecologically rich regions on earth. It is being supported by the United States Agency for International Development.
The forum coincided with the LMP general assembly held at the Manila Hotel.
Marcos underscored the importance of local governments being in the frontlines of environmental defense. Of 1,492 municipalities across the country, more than 800 are coastal towns, which are more vulnerable to disasters and will be the first ones to be affected by sea level rise.
In a speech delivered in Kuala Lumpur last week, Marcos urged the environment ministers of the six Coral Triangle countries to encourage their local governments to participate actively in public discussions about managing coastal and marine resources.
A senior ministers’ meeting of the Coral Triangle was held in Malaysia as part of the regular coordination meeting of all participating countries.
This year’s program will take the mayors to an educational trip to Balanga, Bataan to witness how the provincial and city governments there manage their coastal and marine resources.