By Jennifer Ambanta | October 1, 2013
BusinessWorld Online
The Philippines and Indonesia received
a $4.5-million grant from the Global Environment Facility of the World Bank to
improve their underwater ecosystem.
The program, Capturing Coral Reef and
Related Ecosystem Services Project, aims to quantify the value and market
potential of coral reef and mangrove ecosystem services.
Marea Hatziolos, senior environmental
specialist and the World Bank’s team leader for the project, said the funding
was critical to capture the value of the underwater ecosystem to improve the
level of stewardship of the coastal areas.
The bank is looking at the provinces
of Batangas, Palawan, Central Visayas
(Bohol or Negros), and northern Luzon as pilot areas.
“Capturing the economic and cultural
values of marine natural capital through the valuation of ecosystem services,
and quantifying the cost of lost services due to environmental degradation, has
enormous potential. We can transform the development and stewardship of coastal
areas by translating ecological value into financial terms for local
stakeholders and policy makers,” she said.
“This wealth of natural capital has
the potential to be a major driver of inclusive green growth in the region, if
we overcome some huge challenges,” she added.
The World Bank in a statement said the
study would also find out how communities could sustain the life of the ocean
while equally benefiting from it.
The project is a five-year program,
which includes surveying of corals in different areas in the Pacific region.
The WB report said more than 450
million people in East Asia-Pacific still live on less than $2 a day and a
disproportionate number of these poor are fishers, whose livelihood options are
limited and who compete for fewer and fewer fish in open access, and coral
reef-based fisheries in a race to the bottom.
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