THE signing of a Presidential Proclamation establishing portions of the Philippine Rise as a marine protected area (MPA) is giving protected-area (PA) management in the Philippines a big boost.
An official of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said President Duterte is also expected to enact the Expanded National Integrated Protected Areas (Enipas) bill and sign an executive order (EO) that will put in place a national policy that will ensure a fair and equitable sharing of the benefits derived from Philippine genetic resources in the future.
DENR Undersecretary for Climate Change and Mining Concerns Analiza Teh, who is currently in Singapore attending training related to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals sponsored by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), told the BusinessMirror the two measures will boost protected-areas management in the Philippines.
The UNDP training is for high-level environment officials and is organized for deputy ministers, with 16 countries from Asia, the Middle East, and Central America taking part. Teh acts as head of the Secretariat of the Climate Change Adaptation, Mitigation and Disaster Risk Reduction Cabinet Cluster, which polished the EO on Access-and-Benefit Sharing on Philippine Genetic Resources.
“For Enipas, proclaimed Protected Areas will not just be considered as an initial component of Nipas Republic Act [RA] 7586. With the [Enipas] law, it will require an act of Congress before it can be disestablished,” Teh said.
Under RA 7586, PAs are “off limits” to destructive development projects, including mining.
However, under the Enipas, initial components of a PA like those covered by presidential proclamations, presidential decrees or EOs can easily be disestablished upon the recommendation of the Protected Areas Management Board. A protected area may be disestablished for land conversion or land reclassification.
There are 240 protected areas in the Philippines, but only 13 are currently backed by legislative act. The Enipas will increase the number of protected areas covered by the act of Congress by another 94.
On the other hand, Teh said the EO on Access-and-Benefit Sharing on Philippine Genetic Resources will define the roles of agencies from Customs, Intellectual Property office, National Museum, Department of Agriculture, National Commission for Indigenous People and DENR to strictly enforce laws on gathering and utilization of genetic resources and the conduct of inventory of these genetic resources.
“The benefits will not just be limited to royalty but more encompassing to ensure that we maximize our share,” she said.
The final draft of the EO is already with the Office of the President for final review. The Enipas, she said, may have been transmitted by the Philippine Senate to the Office of the President.
Meanwhile, Rep. Josephine Ramirez-Sato of the Lone District of Occidental Mindoro lauded the signing of the proclamation establishing the Philippine Rise MPA.
Ramirez-Sato added that the proclamation that puts under strict protection and exclusively for scientific exploration a 50,000-hectare portion of the Philippine Rise, including the 17,000-hectare Benham Bank and another 300,000 hectares as a fisheries management area, underscores the need to strengthen PA management and put in place a national policy ensuring fair and equitable sharing from the benefits derived from research and development and exploitation of Philippine genetic resources.
“The initiative of the President to protect and conserve our rich marine biodiversity, particularly at the Philippine Rise, is laudable. This is the first important step to ensure that the present and future generation of Filipinos will be able to enjoy the country’s rich biological diversity,” said Sato, a member of the natural resources committee at the House of Representatives.
Sato said the signing of the ENIPAS and the Executive Order on Access-and-Benefit Sharing on Philippine Genetic Resources would strengthen the protection and conservation of the country’s rich biodiversity through the protected management system, and ensure that the country will benefit from whatever economic gains from the exploitation and sustainable development and utilization of the country’s natural wealth without compromising its ecological integrity.
The Executive Order on Access-and-Benefit Sharing or ABS will promote scientific research that will tap into the country’s rich biodiversity for the purpose of, among others, developing life-saving drugs, beauty and wellness products and ensuring that the Philippines and the community where they are found will have fair and equitable share from their benefits, she said.
“The ENIPAS will give more teeth to our law meant to protect and conserve our rich biodiversity, impose stiffer penalty and fine, encourage a more active local government unit (LGU) role in the management of our PAs, and increase the number of PAs covered by legislation from 13 to 107,” said Sato, one of the principal authors of the bill in the House of Representatives.
Sato, who has also filed a bill on Access-and-Benefit Sharing of Philippine Genetic Resources, said the country’s rich biodiversity highlights its economic potential by grabbing a foothold of the supply of plant-based raw materials for the multi-billion-dollar global pharmaceutical, health, and wellness industries.
“In protecting our rich biodiversity, we also need to ensure that they are exploited and sustainably developed so that the people, especially the indigenous people and the community that have been using these life-saving herbal medicine will benefit from these genetic resources,” Sato said.
With President Duterte’s Proclamation declaring a portion of the Philippine Rise as a Marine Protected Area and policy pronouncement in support of the conduct of scientific research and study, Sato said the signing of ENIPAS and E.O. becomes an imperative.
“Hopefully, the ENIPAS and Executive Order on ABS will be signed before the President delivers his next State-of-the-Nation Address (SONA) in July,” Sato said.