UNACOMODELI
UNESCO National Commission of the Philippines (UNACOM) Online and Digital Enabling Library and Index
The UNESCO National Commission of the Philippines (UNACOM) Online and Digital Enabling Library and Index (UNACOMODELI) aims to support UNESCO’s core mission of building peace in the minds of the people through education, science, culture, and communication.
The UNACOM Online and Digital Enabling Library and Index is developed to advance the mutual knowledge and understanding, and encourage cooperation among the nations in all branches of intellectual activity, such as the exchange of publications, objects of artistic and scientific interest, and other information materials. UNACOMODELI will serve as UNACOM’s institutional memory and a source of high-quality information on UNACOM's intellectual activities (in education, natural sciences, social and human sciences, culture, and communication and information). The ultimate goal is to share knowledge and to transmit it to future generations.
Particularly, it aims to:
- Provide online access to UNESCO National Commission of the Philippines (UNACOM) publications, documents, and other materials.
- Index and promote UNESCO National Commission of the Philippines (UNACOM)-sponsored and -collaborative publications, and national committee members' and partner agencies’ publications, reports, policies, laws, legislations, articles, and other materials.
- Gather and index materials in the country that support the UN Sustainable Development Goals, address the Ocean Decade challenges, and build capacity in the identification, inventorying, and safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage.
The UNACOMODELI collections include UNESCO and UNESCO National Commission of the Philippines (UNACOM) publications, speeches, press releases, capacity building materials, UNESCO National Commission of the Philippines (UNACOM)-sponsored publications, and other publications of interest to UNESCO.
📷 Credit: Gregory Piper / Ocean Image Bank 🔗
Collections in UNACOMODELI
Select a community to browse its collections.
- Education Committee - Education transforms lives
- Science and Technology (Natural Sciences) Committee - Science for a sustainable future
- Social & Human Sciences - Building inclusive and sustainable economies and societies
Recent Submissions
Ocean urea fertilization for carbon credits poses high ecological risks
Glibert, Patricia M.; Azanza, Rhodora; Burford, Michele; Furuya, Ken; Abal, Eva; Al-Azri, Adnan; Al-Yamani, Faiza; Andersen, Per; Anderson, Donald M.; Beardall, John; Berg, G. Mine; Brand, Larry; Bronk, Deborah; Brookes, Justin; Burkholder, JoAnn M.; Cembella, Allan; Cochlan, William P.; Collier, Jackie L.; Collos, Yves; Diaz, Robert; Doblin, Martina; Drennen, Thomas; Dyhrman, Sonya; Fukuyo, Yasuwo; Furnas, Miles; Galloway, James; Granéli, Edna; Ha, Dao Viet; Hallegraeff, Gustaaf; Harrison, John; Harrison, Paul J.; Heil, Cynthia A.; Heimann, Kirsten; Howarth, Robert; Jauzein, Cécile; Kana, Austin A.; Kana, Todd M.; Kim, Hakgyoon; Kudela, Raphael; Legrand, Catherine; Mallin, Michael; Mulholland, Margaret; Murray, Shauna; O’Neil, Judith; Pitcher, Grant; Qi, Yuzao; Rabalais, Nancy; Raine, Robin; Seitzinger, Sybil; Salomon, Paulo S.; Solomon, Caroline; Stoecker, Diane K.; Usup, Gires; Wilson, Joanne; Yin, Kedong; Zhou, Mingjiang; Zhu, Mingyuan (Elsevier BV, 2008-06)
The proposed plan for enrichment of the Sulu Sea, Philippines, a region of rich marine biodiversity, with thousands of tonnes of urea in order to stimulate algal blooms and sequester carbon is flawed for multiple reasons. Urea is preferentially used as a nitrogen source by some cyanobacteria and dinoflagellates, many of which are neutrally or positively buoyant. Biological pumps to the deep sea are classically leaky, and the inefficient burial of new biomass makes the estimation of a net loss of carbon from the atmosphere questionable at best. The potential for growth of toxic dinoflagellates is also high, as many grow well on urea and some even increase their toxicity when grown on urea. Many toxic dinoflagellates form cysts which can settle to the sediment and germinate in subsequent years, forming new blooms even without further fertilization. If large-scale blooms do occur, it is likely that they will contribute to hypoxia in the bottom waters upon decomposition. Lastly, urea production requires fossil fuel usage, further limiting the potential for net carbon sequestration. The environmental and economic impacts are potentially great and need to be rigorously assessed.
Iota-carrageenan from a newly farmed, rare variety of eucheumoid seaweed—“endong”
Villanueva, R. D.; Montaño, M. N. E.; Romero, J. B. (Springer, 2008-08-02)
A seaweed with the local name “endong” is a rare eucheumoid variety that has recently been farmed in Tawi-Tawi, southern Philippines. Local farmers describe it as “eel-like” because of its long, slender and smooth thalli. Being somewhat similar in appearance to the dominantly farmed seaweed “tambalang” (Kappaphycus alvarezii var. tambalangii), farmers mix their harvests of “endong” with those of “tambalang”. We analyzed the hydrocolloid extract from “endong” using spectroscopic and chemical techniques. The extract’s infrared and nuclear magnetic resonance (1H and 13C) spectra, and sulfate and 3,6-anhydrogalactose contents revealed carrageenan of the iota-type, similar to extracts from another farmed species, Eucheuma denticulatum. This result implies that “endong” carrageenan exhibits physico-chemical properties different from those of kappa-carrageenan of “tambalang”. The findings of this study are of significance to the seaweed industry, as carrageenan quality problems could potentially arise from a mixed harvest. Seaweed farmers are advised to separate their harvests of “endong” and “tambalang”.
Effects of multiple perturbations on the survivorship of fragments of three coral species
Dizon, Romeo M.; Yap, Helen T. (Elsevier BV, 2006-08)
Fist-sized fragments of Porites cylindrica, Porites rus and Pavona frondifera were deployed in single-species (P. cylindrica) and mixed-species (all three) plots in a shallow reef area in the northwestern Philippines. After 6 months, the corals in half of the plots were broken into smaller pieces to simulate an episodic physical disturbance. The survival of all corals was monitored from March 2000 to July 2001 during which the corals experienced 2 typhoons and episodes of algal overgrowth. For both intact and broken treatments, there was significantly higher survival in the mixed-species plots than in the single-species treatments. Fragment mortality varied between disturbances of varying frequencies and magnitudes, namely: one-time fragmentation stress, seasonal overgrowth by cyanobacteria and macroalgae, short-term (1 day) and long-term (more than 1 week) burial. The mixed-species assemblages had higher fragment survivorship than the monospecific assemblages during small-scale perturbations (e.g., algal overgrowth), but not in the face of subsequent, larger scale disturbances. This study emphasizes that coral responses to disturbance are both species- and context-specific.
Differential survival of coral transplants on various substrates under elevated water temperatures
Yap, Helen T. (Elsevier BV, 2004-08)
Closely related scleractinian coral species that exhibited similar survival patterns under relatively normal field conditions responded very differently to the occurrence of an environmental disturbance. The two species studied were Porites cylindrica and Porites rus which occur in the same reef zones in shallow reef flats. Transplants of both species were evenly distributed and attached to three different types of substrate: live coral colonies of P. cylindrica, dead coral colonies (also of P. cylindrica), and epoxy coated metal grids that were raised above the sandy substrate. With the onset of above-normal water temperatures due to the El Niño episode of 1998, P. cylindrica transplants immediately showed signs of bleaching stress and tissue necrosis, followed by algal overgrowth and mortality soon afterwards. In contrast, transplants of P. rus bleached more slowly and suffered less mortality, with a few actually showing signs of recovery at the end of the experimental period which covered a total of 14 weeks. These differences in responses could be attributed to properties of the symbiotic zooxanthellae, of the host coral tissue itself, or both. Over-all, survival was good on the metal grids (average of 35%), and on the live coral (average of 22%). It was poor on the dead coral (average of 6%). The metal grids as well as live coral tissue apparently provided a favorable substrate for the attached coral fragments, even for those of a different species. Under the conditions of this particular study, attachment of live coral fragments on already dead colonies for the purpose of increasing live coral cover on the reef did not yield favorable results. This is an area that requires further investigation.
Peace and prosperity in BARMM: A must for the Philippines
Stinuscabugon, Marit (Philippine Manila Standard Publishing, Inc., 2026-03-16)
Twelve years after the signing of the peace agreement between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and six years since the establishment of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), all obstacles seem cleared for the first regular parliamentary elections. The elections were originally due in 2022, but the Covid pandemic got in the way. Elections were reset to Oct. 13, 2025. However, on Sept. 9, 2024, the Supreme Court ruled that the province of Sulu, by virtue of a majority of the voters having rejected the Bangsamoro Organic Law in the BARMM-wide plebiscite on Jan. 21, 2019, was not part of the autonomous region.