Tags: Climate Change, Environment, Marine Life
By KC Santos
DONSOL, SORSOGON – A vigorous reforestation drive in this coastal town aims to preserve the balance of ecosystem and the habitat of whale sharks that have become a main tourist attraction.
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF-Philippines), together with the Department of Natural Resources, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Department of Tourism, Armed Forces of the Philippines and numerous volunteers from local organizations, recently conducted a vigorous reforestation drive to plant 10,000 mangrove seedlings in Donsol’s Barangay Sibago as these are proven a vital part of the province’s tourism.
“Whale sharks congregate in Donsol because of all the plankton,” said WWF-Philippines Project Manager Raul Burce.
“Plankton consumes nutrients discharged by Donsol’s still-healthy rivers, one of the few habitats where fireflies still thrive. Remove mangroves and the fireflies shall be driven off. Without the healthy rivers needed by fireflies, plankton populations cannot bloom – and the whale sharks will migrate elsewhere. If one component crashes, the others follow suit. This can be catastrophic for the people of Donsol.”
Tourism is what transformed Donsol into the boom town of today. Donsol’s Municipal Tourism Office estimated that the 2010 season alone generated over P100 million ($2.3 million) from transportation, food, lodging, registration fees plus whale shark, mangrove and firefly tours.
Around P20 million was retained by the local government, bolstering incomes and improving lives.
It is thus important to conserve not just whale sharks, but mangroves as loss of mangrove forests expose coastal communities to increased flooding, faster beach erosion, saline intrusion and severe damage from intensifying storms.
WWF and its allies in the public and private sector are now working to restore degraded mangrove habitats to improve the lives and livelihoods of people.
WWF-Philippines Vice-Chair and CEO Jose Ma. Lorenzo Tan said that the key to full restoration is balance.
“Without it, the productivity of our natural systems will crash. Strike a balance between conservation and development and we can ensure sustainability,” Tan said.
With 36,289 kilometers of coast and a largely shore-borne population, the Philippines and its thousands of seaside communities are highly vulnerable to the worsening impacts of climate change as made evident by recent storms in the form of typhoons Ondoy, Pepeng and Sendong. Mangrove planting drives have been attempting to remedy this.
In 2007, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority estimated Philippine mangrove cover at 289,890 hectares – a morale-boosting improvement over the 112,000 hectares remaining in 1998.
WWF and its allies in the public and private sector are now working to restore degraded mangrove habitats to improve the lives and livelihoods of people.
“Donsol has long been a point of convergence. Today, dozens of groups have united to protect its productivity. When fireflies return to light up this forest, we’ll know that balance has been restored,” Burce said.
(Photo courtesy of WWF-Philippines)
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