Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia (PEMSEA)

Updates

To monitor the status of the SDS-SEA implementation in the country and as part of the reporting commitment under the Changwon Declaration signed in 2012, the Philippine Country Report on the Implementation of the Sustainable Development Strategy was published and disseminated. The report integrated coastal and marine initiatives and efforts in the country from 2012 to 2016 that are contributing to SDS-SEA implementation.

In 2013, PEMSEA assisted the DENR to draft a National ICM Program for Sustainable Development of the Coastal and Marine Environment and Resources of the Philippines, as mandated by Presidential Executive Order No. 533. The program targeted developing and implementing effective ICM programs in partnership with local governments, covering more than 20% of the country's coastline over the NEXT five years.

In 2015, the Philippine Government signed the Da Nang Compact along with 10 other East Asian countries, committing to scale up ICM to cover 25% of the regional coastline. Also, DENR and PEMSEA signed the Memorandum of Agreement for the Project on Scaling up the Implementation of the SDS-SEA in the Philippines. This project aims to build on the foundation established in the region since 1993 with GEF support by catalyzing actions and investments at the regional, national and local levels to rehabilitate and sustain coastal and marine ecosystems services and build a sustainable coastal and ocean-based economy in the East Asian Seas Region in accordance with the SDS-SEA. This project started in September 2014 and shall end in August 2020.

Among the key outputs generated from the project include the National State of Oceans and Coasts (NSOC) report which was completed in 2018. This effort is in line with the Philippines' commitment to implement the 2012 Changwon Declaration Toward an Ocean-based Blue Economy: Moving Ahead with the SDS-SEA, and the 2015 Danang Compact on the SDS-SEA. It aims to establish a standardized reporting system for coastal and marine-related initiatives in the country.

Local indicator-based State of Oceans and Coasts (SOC) reports were also developed as a monitoring, evaluation and reporting mechanism for local governments that are implementing ICM programs. In the eight priority sites covered by the project, the 1st local SOC reports of Bataan, Batangas, Cavite, and Guimaras have been published and disseminated. Pampanga and Macajalar Bay have drafted their 1st SOC Report while Batangas has initiated the development of its 2nd SOC report. Guimaras published its 2nd SOC report, which showed discernible changes in the governance mechanisms and improvements in environmental indicators. The development of the Romblon SOC report has been initiated in 2019 and is targeted for publication in early 2020.

In 2017, DENR and PEMSEA conducted an independent Third-Party Assessment (TPA) to objectively evaluate ICM program coverage in the country, to benchmark the ICM processes and controls that have been established in selected provinces and municipalities against the requirements of PEMSEA's ICM Code, and to provide guidance on the standardization, streamlining and strengthening the national ICM program. The results of the TPA confirmed the Philippines' achievement in ICM scaling up where the assessment of 32 coastal provinces (out of 64) covered an estimated coastline of 9.75 km or 26.85% of the Philippine coastline.

Also in 2017, the SDS-SEA Project in collaboration with the UNEP Project on Global Nutrient Cycling and in partnership with the Province of Cavite, organized the Manila Bay Governor's Forum as a venue for discussing potential strategies and collaborative actions to contribute to rehabilitating Manila Bay.

The Memorandum of Understanding creating the Manila Bay Network of Local Governments involving eight provinces in the Manila Bay watershed was signed.

In 2018, the Philippines, through the DENR, hosted another EAS Congress in Iloilo. This paved the way for the signing of the Iloilo Declaration which updated and re-affirmed commitments under the SDS-SEA. The Sixth Ministerial Forum of the 2018 EAS Congress was chaired by DENR Undersecretary and Chief of Staff Rodolfo Garcia.

Some of the identified gaps/challenges in the implementation of SDS-SEA in the Philippines are (1) absence of an institutional coordinating mechanism at the national level to oversee the implementation of the National SDS-SEA/National ICM Program; (2) adoption of the National SDS-SEA/ICM Program; (3) weak capacity of LGUs to manage coastal areas and resources; and (4) lack of an integrated environmental monitoring program.

To address these gaps/challenges, the results of the ICM Third Party Assessment will be utilized to update the National ICM Program for adoption by the DENR Executive Committee. This will also serve as an input to the development and refinement of the Coastal and Marine Ecosystems Management Program (CMEMP) Technical Bulletin of the DENR Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB). The said Bulletin aims to clarify the coordination, monitoring and reporting arrangements in line with the requirements of Executive Order 533 adopting Integrated Coastal Management (ICM) as the national strategy to achieve the sustainable development of the country's coastal and marine environment and resources. PEMSEA also provided technical assistance to the DENR in the re-filing of the national ICM Bill, which is included in the priority legislative agenda of the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2017-2022. With the collaborative efforts undertaken by DENR and PEMSEA, the proposed Bill now includes an article on the establishment of a national inter-agency coordination mechanism.