RP waters turning into floating landfills EcoWaste

MANILA, Philippines – A local waste and pollution watchdog yesterday called for stricter implementation of environmental laws that would ensure the genuine protection of the country’s bodies of water.

The Ecological Waste Coalition (EcoWaste) lamented how bodies of water, especially the ocean, turn into “floating landfills” and “pollution hotspots” because of great amounts of non-biodegradable wastes that are being dumped into them daily.

“We urge for solidarity and action to (particularly) protect our ocean,” said Manny Calonzo, of EcoWaste, in observance of World Ocean Day.

“Plastics, in particular, are dumped daily into our oceans and other bodies of water; and thus, create floating landfills. Such bad habit makes our oceans become pollution hotspots,” he also said.

Aside from non-biodegradable trash, EcoWaste said fertilizer and pesticide runoffs from farms as well as untreated effluents from residential, commercial and industrial establishments are also damaging and killing marine ecosystems.

Ben Galindo, of the Sagip Pasig Movement and EcoWaste, noted that the public, being “common beneficiaries” of the ocean’s riches, should take part in protecting the bodies of water from garbage and pollution as well as harmful activities.

The ocean is home to diverse creatures and ecosystems that provide humans not only food, but also vital ingredients for medicines and other products, EcoWaste pointed out.

The ocean helps in regulating the climate as well as in spawning storms that bring fresh water needed by land-dwelling plants and animals. The ocean is also important for moving materials between continents and for creating jobs from related industries such as fishing, trade and tourism, the group likewise noted.

In the Philippines, EcoWaste and Greenpeace-Southeast Asia conducted a discards survey at Manila Bay in 2006, which revealed that synthetic plastic materials account for 76 percent of the floating trash in the world-famous bay.  Of the rate, 51 percent are plastic bags.

A United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) 2006 report, on the other hand, disclosed that every square mile of the ocean contains 46,000 pieces of floating plastic trash.

As this developed, EcoWaste endorsed a global petition asking the United Nations to issue a resolution officially designating June 8 as World Ocean Day.

Such proposal was initially made by Canada in 1992 at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. To date, however, the World Ocean Day has yet to obtain official recognition from the UN.

According to the petition, a UN-proclaimed observance of the World Ocean Day should serve “as a means each year to celebrate the world’s ocean and its rich diversity of life.”

The petition likewise stated that the UN-proclaimed World Ocean Day should “highlight global ocean awareness, education, and action programs to promote a healthy and productive ocean.”

Meanwhile, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), together with the Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia (PEMSEA), would host the East Asian Seas (EAS) Congress on Nov. 23-27, 2009.

DENR Secretary Lito Atienza said the conduct of the EAS Congress in the country would give the Philippines the opportunity to enlist the assistance of neighboring countries in the management of its water resources.

The congress will highlight the initiatives at the local level and good practices covering a wide area or subjects on coastal and ocean management and how interregional, inter-agency and multi-sectoral partnerships are contributing to regional and international environmental targets, Atienza said.

PEMSEA is a regional program of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) that has as members the Philippines, Cambodia, China, DPR Korea, Indonesia, Japan, Lao PDR, RO Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Timor Leste, and Vietnam.