50
July 2008
the plan focuses on conducting and
expanding studies on marine turtles
and their habitats, strengthening
collaborative research and monitoring
eff orts, and information exchange
mechanisms.
Fourthly, many of the SSS’s coastal
communities remain unaware of
the dire condition of many turtle
populations, with little knowledge
of nesting patterns or maturation
periods, natural survival, and the
impacts of mankind’s actions. Turtle
conservation issues are generally
not widely publicized to those who
impact them the most — remote
coastal communities, tourism
markets, commercial enterprises
and government policy makers.
Thus community participation
in conservation schemes, public
awareness and information exchange
are key issues to be dealt with. The plan
addresses the need for information
exchange, community participation
and education through fi ve themes
comprising 28 focus areas. These focus
on expanding and implementing public
education, awareness and information
programmes, promoting general public
participation, expanding government
involvement and promoting shared
responsibilities, integrating community
development with environmental
education, and establishing
mechanisms to continually evaluate
community practices as they impact
marine turtles and their habitats.
There is also a critical need to address
capacity for conservation, research
and management within the SSS,
which the Plan addresses through
two key themes (training and capacity
building, and provision of resources)
which cover ten action items, and to
integrate turtle management across
government managerial levels and
internationally. There exists a clear
interconnectivity among habitats on
which marine turtles depend and which
confl ict with a number of other sectors,
including fi shing, tourism, shipping
and housing and defence. However,
this interconnectivity among marine
ecosystems and their inhabitants, which
are also ecosystems and species upon
which humans depend, are poorly or
not at all understood. For instance,
nesting and foraging habitats need to be
considered in coastal planning but often
commerce and tourism predominate
in decision-making, to the detriment of
wild fl ora and fauna. The Plan addresses
integration of conservation eff orts
through four themes comprising 16
action focus areas. The four key themes
within this context are cooperation and
promotion of information exchange,
enforcement and legislation, use of data
in management, and implementation of
international legal instruments.
Finally, the issue of required funding
is addressed while taking into
consideration the need to secure
funds for turtle conservation and
leverage existing resources to provide
incremental value to conservation
eff orts, and developing concrete
conservation outputs and timeframes.
Many conservation eff orts in the SSS
still struggle to clearly articulate their
conservation goals and targets, even
though they are direct interventions
promoting turtle conservation.
The Plan has obviously benefi ted
from many past initiatives, and brings
these together cohesively as a way
forward for truly regional approaches to
conservation, building on the strengths
of ‘good’ initiatives and learning from
the defi ciencies of ‘poor’ ones. It is hard
to designate a conservation initiative as
‘poor’ if it is doing something positive for
the environment — but there are always
areas for improvement.
What is required now is the formal
adoption of the marine turtle RAP by
the member countries, and the gradual
implementation of its contents. Only
then will the people rap along with the
turtles.
Jüergen Freund
51
Tropical Coasts
Cyanide fi shing is among the illegal activities reported in
the Verde Island Passage, Cagayan Ridge and the
Tri-National Sea Turtle Corridor.
(
Photo by Jüergen Freund)
Enforcement of Coastal and
Marine Environmental Laws
in the Sulu-Sulawesi Seas
By Romeo Trono, Country Executive Director, Conservation International-Philippines,
Jose Ricky Biyo, Verde Passage Corridor Coordinator, CI-Philippines,
Joel S. Gutierrez, Enforcement Facilitator, CI-Philippines,
Manuel Narvadez, Jr., Enforcement Incentive Coordinator, CI-Philippines
Art Faburada, Balabac Strait Corridor Coordinator, CI-Philippines,
Vivien Facunla, Cagayan Ridge Corridor Coordination Associate, CI-Philippines,
Angelique Songco, Tubbataha Management Offi ce
Rina Maria P. Rosales, Resources, Environment and Economics Center for Studies (REECS),
Chung Chen Fung, Reef Guardian,
and Evangeline F.B. Miclat, Marine Program Coordinator, CI-Philippines
While the Philippines has many
reasons to develop its marine
protected areas (MPAs), the day-to-day
responsibility for maintaining it falls on
many stakeholders. More often, once
MPAs are established, communities
struggle with lack of funding,
government support and facilities,
and weak enforcement of coastal and
marine environmental laws.
While there are numerous laws
that provide policy and regulatory
framework for coastal management,
these laws are not enforced fully for
a variety of reasons. Oftentimes, laws
are poorly understood and resources
allocated for their enforcement
and prosecution are frequently not
enough.
In the four marine biodiversity
corridors, namely the Verde Island
Passage, Cagayan Ridge, the Balabac
Strait and the Tri-National Sea Turtle
Corridor, implementation, compliance
and enforcement of environmental
laws vary.
The Philippine Fisheries Code of
1998 (Republic Act 8550) is the main
national law on fisheries. It gives local