(openPR) - The island-province of Guimaras has become the first in the Philippines to embark on an island-wide Integrated Coastal Management (ICM) program. Guimaras has obtained the support of the Department of Environment & Natural Resources (DENR) & the Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia (PEMSEA), a regional program implemented by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) for the Global Environmental Facility (GEF).

Guimaras Governor Felipe Nava, DENR Secretary Jose Atienza, and PEMSEA Executive Director Raphael Lotilla recently signed a Memorandum of Agreement formalizing their partnership to develop the Guimaras ICM program. The ICM program would ensure the protection of the unique and fragile island ecosystem of Guimaras while accelerating socioeconomic development. PEMSEA is hopeful that Guimaras will serve as a good model for the sustainable development of similarly-situated islands in the East Asian Seas region.

In a ceremony held on 18 August 2008 in Jordan, Guimaras, Governor Nava and Prof. Lotilla both stressed that stewardship of sustainable coastal and marine resources would require integration and cooperation among the various stakeholders and partners. Assistant Secretary Analiza Rebuelta-Teh of DENR noted that the ICM program in Guimaras will contribute to the scaling up efforts of national ICM programs as well as to Executive Order 533 implementation, declaring ICM as the national strategy and policy framework for sustainable development of the coastal and marine resources.

A special presentation was given by the Chair of the East Asian Seas Partnership Council, Dr. Chua Thia-Eng, focusing on the key elements for successful ICM implementation that includes governance, a transparent implementation process, a coordinating mechanism, a sustained program and political will. The event was well-attended by representatives from the provincial and municipal governments, PEMSEA, DENR central office, as well as regional and provincial offices, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, the Philippine Coast Guard, local government agencies, the academe, various nongovernmental organizations and community-based organizations (CBOs) and the media.

Guimaras has proven that a committed leadership and supportive stakeholders can accelerate the preparation process for integrated coastal management (ICM). The Guimaras Integrated Coastal Management Project (GICMP) is the third PEMSEA parallel site in the Philippines, after Bataan and Cavite. Parallel sites aim to replicate the success of ICM demonstration sites by adopting the PEMSEA approach and methodologies. Guimaras will receive technical advice from PEMSEA while using resources from the provincial government and the private sector in the locality and other potential donors. The active support of stakeholders likewise ensures the success of an ICM site.

Governor Nava has actively spearheaded the ICM preparation process. Barely four months after the conduct of the initial site evaluation process, the Province was able to develop its three-year work programme delineating the key activities for 2008-2010.

An Inception Workshop involving government and nongovernment stakeholders from the national and local levels was held to build consensus on options and actions to be taken to facilitate project start up. Key activities that will be completed within 2008 were identified and agreed upon as well as the roles and responsibilities of the principal stakeholders and concerned agencies.

About the Province of Guimaras

Located in the Southeast of Panay and Northwest of Negros Island in Western Visayas, Philippines, the Province of Guimaras is composed of five (5) municipalities and ninety eight (98) barangay (villages) with Jordan as the capital. Hiligaynon is the native dialect. Famous for its world-class mangoes, the province also derives its livelihood from agriculture and fisheries. Its fisheries resources, coastal habitats and fragile ecosystem were severely affected when bunker fuel was spilled into the Guimaras coast in 2006. The impact affected more than half of its population living along its 238-km coastline that depended on the coastal and marine resources for their livelihood.

About PEMSEA

PEMSEA was first established in 1993 as the Regional Programme on the Prevention and Management of Marine Pollution in the East Asian Seas. In 1999, it entered its second phase as the Regional Programme on Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia. PEMSEA was transformed from a project-based initiative into a regional coordinating mechanism for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Strategy for the Seas of East Asia (SDS-SEA) in December 2006. Participating countries of PEMSEA are Cambodia, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Indonesia, Japan, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, People’s Republic of China, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Vietnam.

PEMSEA has established 8 integrated coastal management (ICM) demonstration sites in the East Asian region. The experiences and lessons learned at these sites have been shared with local governments in 19 parallel sites. In the Philippines, a pilot demonstration site was established in Batangas Bay in 1995. ICM replication and scaling up will continue as PEMSEA is targeting to cover 20 percent of the regional coastline through replication of ICM practices by 2015.

PEMSEA provides technical services for activities such as the setting up of an Integrated Information Management System, the conduct of an environmental risk assessment, the development of a coastal strategy, a coastal use zoning plan, an integrated environmental monitoring program, a local government oil spill preparedness and response plan, etc., and the identification of environmental investment opportunities.

For more than a decade, the Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia (PEMSEA) has been active in the pursuit of sustainable development, protecting life-support systems and enabling the sustainable use and management of coastal and marine resources through intergovernmental, interagency, and multisectoral partnerships.

Since its inception in 1994 (Regional Programme on Marine Pollution Prevention and Management for the East Asian Seas Region) the Programme has developed management-related methodologies, techniques, working models and standards to strengthen practical efforts in the field.

Together with its partners, PEMSEA fulfilled its objectives and achieved a number of milestones in the field of integrated coastal management, which include the EAS Congress 2003 and the Ministerial Forum, that led to the signing of the Putrajaya Declaration, also known as the Sustainable Development Strategy for the Seas of East Asia (SDS-SEA).

Today, PEMSEA focuses on the development objective of facilitating the implementation of the SDS-SEA through the mobilization of necessary partnerships arrangements, operating mechanisms, intellectual capital, support services and resources for the achievement of the shared vision of sustainable use of coastal and marine resources of the region and the development targets of the WSSD Plan of Implementation and the UN Millennium Development Goals.

PEMSEA
DENR Compound, Visayas Ave., Quezon City
9292992
Maggie Uy
mmuy@pemsea.org