Environment chief Ramon Paje is calling for more multi-sector efforts on conserving biodiversity nationwide, warning environmental degradation and loss of natural resources will worsen poverty in the country.
”We can’t expect high productivity from degraded resources,” he said Wednesday (Jan. 15) at the biodiversity conference in Metro Manila.
He noted lower or no productivity will continue driving poverty nationwide.
Paje made the call as authorities reported natural resource-rich Philippines continues being a biodiversity hotspot with a number of endemic flora and fauna species under threat that’s often man-made, making conservation efforts crucial.
He’s expecting environmental degradation to worsen from increasing competition for natural resources due to the ballooning Philippine population.
Over-exploitation of natural resources is common in countries with large populations and results in environmental degradation, he noted.
Degraded environments are a bane to development, he continued.
”At present, we’re at the vortex of this cycle and must break loose from it,” he said.
Citing Commission on Population reports this month, he said the Philippine population is expected to reach an estimated 100 million people in 2014.
The country’s projected 2013 population is about 97.35 million people, noted National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB).
Latest available NSCB statistics also place the 2012 Philippine poverty incidence at 25.2 percent of population nationwide.
Earlier at the conference, Paje received from the environment department’s German partner-agency Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ) a copy of the landmark study that assessed management of Philippine protected areas (PAs).
The study ‘National Management Effectiveness and Capacity Assessment (NMECA) of PAs in the Philippines’ by Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and GIZ raised urgency to improve planning, legal, financial and protection systems of and legislation for PAs so these can be better managed for present and future generations.
RA 7586 (National Integrated Protected Areas System Act of 1992) defines PAs as “portions of land and water set aside by reason of their unique physical and biological significance, managed to enhance biological diversity and protected against destructive human exploitation.”
NMECA covered 61 local sites representing over 25 percent of 240 key PAs nationwide, providing the country for the first time a comprehensive view of the areas’ state.
”The study will influence resource management fundamentals of the Philippines,” Paje said.
NMECA is part of the five-year Protected Area Management Enhancement (PAME) project government and GIZ commenced in 2012.
DENR earlier said PAME aims to enhance management of 60 existing terrestrial and marine PAs nationwide.
PAME also seeks to establish 100 new PAs by 2017, DENR added. [PNA]
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