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National Committee on Marine Sciences (NCMS)

Permanent URI for this communityhttps://repository.unesco.gov.ph/handle/123456789/6

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AGROVOC Keyword: search.filters.agrovoc.biodiversityGeographic name: search.filters.geographicname.Oriental Mindoro

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    Puerto Galera: Shoring up tourism, marine ecosystem
    Supetran, Bernard L. (Philippine Daily Inquirer, Inc., 2019-06-07)
    For centuries, the bucolic town of Puerto Galera in Oriental Mindoro has been one of the archipelago’s proverbial best-kept secrets, with its lush forests, powdery beaches and rich underwater world. Literally meaning “port of galleons” in Spanish, Puerto Galera then hosted ships that would drop anchor on its coves for shelter before proceeding to its Manila-Acapulco route. The world would hear first of its allure in 1973, when it was declared by the Unesco as a Man and Biosphere Reserve, a prestigious global list of places known for their exceptional biodiversity. Another accolade came in 2005 when it was inducted into the Most Beautiful Bays of the World Club, a 27-nation Paris-based non-government organization. With its remarkable profusion of aquatic life, Puerto Galera would be named by conservationists as the “center of the center” of marine biodiversity with its strategic location in the heart of the world’s “Coral Triangle” in Southeast Asia.
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    Saving biodiversity at Verde Island Passage
    Cinco, Maricar (Philippine Daily Inquirer, 2018-10-20)
    Casting a fishing line with a coral sinker and a plastic-bottle reel, children as young as 8 years old catch their next meal from the pebbled shore of Barangay San Andres here. Most of the women are at home, raising hogs or weaving “buli” (palm) mats, while the men are out at sea to fish for food or collect aquarium fish to sell in Metro Manila. Their houses dot a hillslope, built to withstand the frequent storms. Drinking water comes from deep wells while electricity is supplied by several solar panels. Life is simple and slow in San Andres, a small, poor community on Verde Island along the Verde Island Passage (VIP), a marine and terrestrial zone of rich biological diversity spanning almost 2 hectares and more than 100 kilometers south of Manila. Biologists have discovered a thriving marine ecosystem (1.14 million ha) along the passage in what most people called the “richest place on earth.”