International organizations help rehabilitate Manila Bay

A new opportunity to rehabilite and develop Manila Bay is in the offing with the conceptualization of a project that supports the DENR’s endeavors to address the bay’s environmental problems.

The Partnership in Environmental Management for the Seas of the East Asia (PEMSEA) is a project of the Global Environment Facility (GEF). In the Philippines, it is being operationalized jointly by the DENR as the host institution, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) as the executing agency, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as the implementing agency. PEMSEA’s development objective is "to protect the life-support system and enable the sustainable use and management of coastal and marine resources through intergovernmental, interagency and intersectoral partnership to improve quality of life in the East Asian region." The project duration is 2000-2004.

PEMSEA is not a panacea to the environmental problems in Manila Bay. Its role will be a value-added contribution to the current undertaking in the central agencies and other stakeholders. Within the project duration of five years, it will set up the mechanics and institutional arrangements toward achieving the vision for the bay. To this end, it will work with government agencies in identifying existing commitments in the bay’s watershed and the essential activities and resources in the project components. It will develop project proposals for submission to agencies, financial institutions, donors and investors to meet its financial requirements. It will also assist the government agencies to identify opportunities for environmental investments in the Bay.

Manila Bay is one of the three subregional sea areas/pollution hotspots in the region identified by the project. The other two are Gulf of Thailand and Bohai Sea in China. These regions are the priority bay areas for rehabilitation and development. The Manila Bay Environmental Management Project covers three administrative regions, namely: National Capital Region (NCR), Region III (Central Luzon), and Region IV (Southern Tagalog Region). These regions drain water to Manila Bay which serves as the catchment basin, through Pasig and Pampanga rivers, and numerous arteries of waterways.

A coastal strategy for Manila Bay has been prepared as development framework for this pilot project. Its key elements represent a synthesis of the series of consultative workshops from November 2000 to April 2001, with participants coming from the various types/level of stakeholders, namely: city/municipal, provincial, regional and national agency/institutions. The consultative workshops yielded their common vision and shared mission strategies and action agenda, their roles and responsibilities, and institutional mechanisms to ensure the sustainability of project’s initiatives.

The strategy was developed within the framework of ecosystem approach wherein non-living and living, were considered and integrated. It is a framework of action in developing and managing the shared coastal area of stakeholders in a manner that is best for them within the context of strong public-private partnerships. This strategy will serve as a tool in the formulation of a strategic environmental management plan (SEMP). To ensure effective implementation through stakeholders’ active involvement sufficient information about the related issues and laws are provided them as basis in the planning and implementation of SEMP. Further, interagency and intersectoral consultations will be undertaken to build consensus among senior government and national officials having responsibility in the project, and from the stakeholders – civil society, media, business sector, and academe.

The goal of SEMP is "to achieve an acceptable balance between economic development and environmental management, and especially the mitigation and management of land-and-sea-based practices and activities that threatens the life-support system."

Manila Bay boasts of tremendous attributes and values. The sunset of Manila Bay is a scene to behold. Its biodiversity and protected landscape speak of its rich natural resources. Its historical values are known worldwide, especially the Battle of Manila Bay, and the execution of Dr. Jose Rizal. Conference, tourism and exhibition facilities, hotels, museums, and cultural and arts centers stand majestically around the bay area. Its tourism and recreation facilities are great. Being strategically located, Manila Bay is the center of political, social and economic development.