Good afternoon everyone!

I am pleased to provide you a

presentation on the current undertaking of the Philippines with
regards to the implementation of Coastal and Marine Spatial
Planning

We start off highlighting the Philippines rich marine biodiversity.

Located at the Coral Triangle together with 5 other countries from
the Pacific and ASEAN Region, the Philippines is known as the “center
of the center marine shore fish biodiversity”

With most of our communities living along the coast, Filipinos heavily
rely on the ecosystem services that our coastal and marine resources
provide. Valuation studies have shown that its net annual benefits
per year amounts to more than 6.3 Billion US dollars.

Having said that, the threat to these ecosystems are also heightened
leading to its further degradation. With conflicting resource use and
overlapping economic activities, the damage to our country’s coastal
resources are becoming more and more irreversible.

To address these challenges, the country launched the Coastal and

Marine Ecosystems Management Program (CMEMP) which has an
overall program goal of optimizing and enhancing the coastal and
marine environment ecosystem services and benefits for the well-
being of Filipinos.

Anchored to the implementation of the National Integrated

Protected Areas System, CMEMP is consist of seven components
including the Marine Protected Areas Network Establishment and
Strengthening, Biodiversity-Friendly and Social Enterprise
Development, Capacity Building, Technical Assistance, Knowledge
Management, Social Marketing and Mobilization, and Monitoring
and Evaluation.
To date, the country has established a total of 72 Marine Protected
Areas managed by the national government and more than 1,800
Marine Protected Areas managed by the local government units.

As part of the strengthening of these MPAs, various capacity building

programs are being implemented for the staff of the Protected Area
which includes how Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning can be
incorporated in the General Management Plan of the MPA. This
initiative started last 2014 and the number of personnel
knowledgeable of the basic principles of CMSP continuous to grow
over the years.

Just last year, we were able to initiate discussions as to how CMSP

can be applied within the Manila Bay region, wherein national
scientists, academicians and international and local experts shared
their experiences on the practical application of CMSP. The Webinar-
Workshop resulted to the development of a Vision for Manila Bay
and a CMSP Framework which shall serve as the basis towards the
establishment of its CMSP.

Moving forward, we see the need to incorporate the concept of

CMSP in the general management plan of the protected areas and in
other policies such as those related to coastal development and
reclamation. We shall continue to capacitate regional and field
implementers, strengthen partnership with the academe for a
science-based CMSP and replicate the initiative done in Manila Bay
to the other parts of the country.

Thank you very much for listening and we hope to learn from other
stories as well in this event.