03. Science and Technology (Natural Sciences) Committee
Permanent URI for this communityhttps://repository.unesco.gov.ph/handle/123456789/3
In creating a culture of peace and addressing sustainable development challenges, UNESCO aims to cultivate the generation and application of scientific knowledge among its Member States. At UNACOM, we facilitate access to UNESCO’s international programmes in the sciences, such as the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme, and International Geoscience and Geoparks Programme (IGGP), among others.
Through this sector, the Commission aims to contribute to the following SDGs: 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities, 13 - Climate Action, 14 - Life Below Water, and 15 - Life On Land. With the overarching vision of the 2023-2028 Philippine Development Plan (PDP), UNACOM targets grassroots-inspired cultural heritage and biodiversity protection and conservation, as well as multi-stakeholder partnerships for SDGs promotion.
Through this sector, the Commission aims to contribute to the following SDGs: 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities, 13 - Climate Action, 14 - Life Below Water, and 15 - Life On Land. With the overarching vision of the 2023-2028 Philippine Development Plan (PDP), UNACOM targets grassroots-inspired cultural heritage and biodiversity protection and conservation, as well as multi-stakeholder partnerships for SDGs promotion.
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- MPA-FishMApp – a citizen science app that simplifies monitoring of coral reef fish density and biomass in marine protected areasAbesamis, Rene; Balingit, Rodel; de Castro, Romulo; Aguila, Raphael Nelo; Cabiguin, Maryjune; Villagracia, Julius; Susmeña, Marynoll; Montemar, Mario Neil; Yocor, Antonio (National Fisheries Research and Development Institute, 2022-12)Monitoring changes in fish density and biomass inside marine protected areas (MPAs) through fish visual census (FVC) can determine if MPAs are achieving their goal of promoting fish population recovery. Simplified FVC methods have been developed for citizen scientists to enable them to monitor fish populations in MPAs. However, MPA monitoring programs led by local stakeholders remain rare and difficult to sustain due to technical barriers related to FVC data management. Here, we describe and evaluate a novel online app called MPA-FishMApp, which we developed to help stakeholders of MPAs that protect coral reefs in the Philippines efficiently store, analyze, and visualize FVC data. MPA-FishMApp is coupled to a simplified FVC method wherein the observer records only 21 reef fish species groups during surveys. The app provides a simple data entry interface, cloud storage, and algorithms to estimate fish density and biomass. Spatial and temporal trends in fish density and biomass can be instantaneously visualized in the app based on relative importance to fisheries. Field testing suggested that the MPA-FishMApp methodology (simplified FVC and app) is sensitive enough to detect qualitative patterns showing differences in density and biomass that may develop between MPAs and fished sites, especially in fishes that are highly important to fisheries. However, users must have sufficient training and experience in simplified FVC to produce reliable data. MPA-FishMApp may help reverse the lack of monitoring in MPAs across the Philippines and offers an accessible, transparent, and auditable venue for collaboration between citizen scientists and professional scientists.
- Saving the seas must be a way of lifeNg, Lauren Wendell (Manila Bulletin Publishing Corporation, 2023-02-01)The Philippines is home to some of the world’s greatest natural wonders. Looking at many of our popular tourist attractions—Palawan, Boracay, Siargao, La Union, and other named and unnamed coastal beauties—it is difficult not to see how these coastlines have brought in people from all over the world, all with a common appreciation for the magnificence of our finest beaches. What’s more is that the appeal of these sites does not stop at the earth’s surface. Looking beneath the waters, you will be fascinated by the sheer diversity of life thriving within the seabeds, which people so often overlook because there we are, overwhelmed by the surfing, water sports, and life above sea that we barely have enough time to consume all what these wonderlands have in store.
- US trains PH partners in underwater law enforcement(The Manila Times Publishing Corporation, 2022-07-10)The United States government, through the US Agency for International Development (USAid), recently trained Philippine government partners in coral reef crime scene investigation and law enforcement. Under USAid's Sustainable Interventions for Biodiversity, Oceans, and Landscapes (Sibol) project, 27 representatives from agencies such as the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) participated in the training that focused on environmental law enforcement issues like coral reef crime scene investigation, marine wildlife crime forensics, oil spills, and marine and coastal pollution.
- Who manipulated fishermen? Palace points to Diokno, IBPAurelio, Julie M.; Salaverria, Leila B. (Philippine Daily Inquirer, Inc., 2019-07-12)Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo on Thursday said human rights lawyer Jose Manuel “Chel” Diokno and the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) manipulated a group of fishermen into petitioning for an environmental protection order from the Supreme Court. Panelo was reacting to Diokno’s accusation on Wednesday that state lawyers used underhanded tactics by talking secretly to his clients, who then disavowed the petition filed in their behalf by the IBP in April. “I think it’s the other way around,” Panelo told reporters. “He should ask himself in the mirror because that questions applies to him.”
- Managing protected areas through PPPMayuga, Jonathan (Philippine Business Daily Mirror Publishing, Inc., 2018-05-20)The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is ready to accept applications for Special-Use Agreement in Protected Areas (Sapa) after Environment Secretary Roy A. Cimatu recently announced the lifting of the moratorium that stopped the awarding of tenurial instruments in protected areas. The scheme was suspended in 2011 by then-Environment Secretary Ramon J. P. Paje, according to DENR officials, because it failed to generate revenue and improve protected area management. A protected area, under Republic Act 7586, or the National Integrated Protected Areas System (Nipas) Act, is defined as “identified portions of land and water set aside by reason of their unique physical and biological significance, managed to enhance biological diversity and protected against destructive human exploitation.”
- DOT welcomes Philippines’ 3 Condé Nast Traveler citations(Philippine Manila Standard Publishing, Inc., 2018-10-13)Boracay, which is currently undergoing rehabilitation and is set for its soft opening on October 26, was voted as second and described as “close to a tropical idyll as you’ll find in Southeast Asia with gentle coastlines and made-for-Instagram sunsets.” “We would like to take this opportunity to tell our tourists to manage their expectations on Boracay’s soft opening. We also encourage them to be mindful and responsible tourists of the island,” Secretary Romulo-Puyat added. Condé Nast also named Palawan as Asia’s third top island stating “Palawan is home to the otherworldly Puerto Princesa Subterranean River, a UNESCO World Heritage Site worth the trip alone.”
- Davao plans for stronger fishery law enforcementPadillo, Maya M. (BusinessWorld Publishing Corporation, 2015-11-30)The City Agriculturist Office (CAO) is seeking a P3-million budget to strengthen the implementation of national and local fishery laws intended to protect marine and coastal resources. The project will involve closer coordination among the Barangay Fishery Law Enforcement Team, police-maritime group, the Philippine Coast Guard, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) Region 11, the councils of the city’s coastal barangays, and the Barangay Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Management Councils. Rocelio T. Tabay, CAO assistant department head, said the project, which is part of the Fishery Resource Management Program, will help deter resource destruction and degradation. The Fisheries Code of the Philippines was amended in February through Republic Act 8550 while the city enforces its Comprehensive Fisheries Code passed in 2008.
- Tubbataha marks 30 by celebrating its Big Five—both species and supportersHonasan, Alya (Philippine Daily Inquirer, Inc., 2018-08-11)Today, Aug. 11, it will be 30 years since President Corazon Aquino signed Proclamation No. 306, creating the Philippines’ first national marine protected area (MPA), the Tubbataha Reefs National Marine Park—now the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park (TRNP)—in 1988. The proclamation turned this jewel among Philippine reefs—all 97,000-plus hectares of it in the middle of the Sulu Sea in Palawan—into a “no-take zone,” legally protecting this important center of marine biodiversity of the country as well as the world. In 1993, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) reaffirmed this by declaring Tubbataha the only purely marine World Heritage Site in Southeast Asia.
- US pays P87m for Tubbataha reef damageBarcelo, Vito; Solmerin, Florante (Philippine Manila Standard Publishing, Inc., 2015-02-19)The Philippine government has received P87.03 million from the US government as payment for the damage caused by a US Navy minesweeper that ran aground on a protected coral reef two years ago, the Department of Foreign Affairs said Wednesday. The minesweeper USS Guardian ran aground and caused damage to the Tubbataha Reef, a World Heritage Site in Palawan, in 2013. “The compensation will be utilized for the protection and rehabilitation of Tubbataha Reef Natural Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Portions of the fund will also be used to further enhance capability to monitor the area and prevent similar incidents in the future,” the DFA said in a statement.
- Reef Alert(Philippine Daily Inquirer, Inc., 2016-10-09)There is no way attention will be directed at the crying urgency of protecting the coral reefs unless we belabor the issue and repeat ourselves. At the rate coral reefs are being destroyed by human activity or damaged by bleaching due to global warming, it won’t be long before these “colorful gardens under the sea where marine life thrives” die off, never to be appreciated by future generations. Indeed, though the Philippines is “the richest place on earth” in terms of biodiversity, according to scientist Wilfredo Licuanan, he has warned that because of climate change, “we can lose our corals in a matter of weeks, not years.”