The East Asian Seas Region Ministerial Forum, to be held in Manila on 26-27 November 2009 as part of East Asian Seas (EAS) Congress 2009 and to be hosted by Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Jose L. Atienza Jr., will be addressing climate change adaptation through integrated coastal management. The East Asian Seas region is recognized as being highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Like the Philippines, other countries of the region are beginning to see and feel the impacts of climate change, such as an increase in the frequency and intensity of tropical storms, resulting in flooding, destruction of property, and loss of lives. There is an urgent need for countries to systematically adapt to, what appears to be, the inevitable scenarios of rising sea levels and unpredictable weather patterns.

Batangas province employees committed to be ambassadors for responsible waste management as they became the first supporters of a “Bring Your Own Bag” campaign in the Verde Island Passage.

The campaign, a partnership between Conservation International-Philippines and the Batangas provincial government, aims to promote the habit of bringing one’s own bag and refusing the plastic bags that are distributed through stores.

BATANGAS CITY --  Over 100 participants from five provinces gathered here to assess the vulnerability to climate change of the Verde Island Passage (VIP), the recognized “center of the center” of marine biodiversity in the world and the heart of the Coral Triangle.

The event marks the first time that the five provinces comprising the Verde Island Passage – Batangas, Occidental Mindoro, Oriental Mindoro, Marinduque, and Romblon – come together to discuss and collectively plan to address the possible impacts of climate change to the marine ecosystems of this region and the livelihood of the people that depend on their resources.

MANADO, Indonesia—Leaders from six nations agreed Friday to work jointly to save Southeast Asia’s Coral Triangle, considered the world’s richest underwater wilderness.

The leaders of East Timor, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and the Solomon Islands signed off on proposals to expand maritime sanctuaries and no-fishing zones during talks in Indonesia.The Coral Triangle Initiative calls for stronger international cooperation to combat illegal fishing and environmental destruction in an area half the size of the United States and home to half the world’s coral reefs.

‘‘The Coral Triangle is a globally recognized treasure. It is unique; there is nothing like it on Earth,’’ Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said of the region, which has been compared to the Amazon rain forest for its biodiversity.

Kicking off a new partnership for marine conservation, actor Christopher De Leon joined a team from Conservation International-Philippines (CI-P) in releasing a pawikan or green turtle back to the sea.

The pawikan release is De Leon’s first activity as he joins Conservation International in campaigning for the protection and sustainable management of marine biodiversity in the Verde Island Passage. What was supposed to be an exploratory first meeting between the actor and CI Philippines turned into an extraordinary opportunity as it coincided with the arrival of the pawikan slated for release. The green turtle (Chelonia mydas) was recovered in Hagonoy, Bulacan by officials of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. When asked if he wanted to participate in the release, the actor had no hesitations in saying yes.

"How can animals live underwater?"
"How come the shells in the story could talk?"
"Is the Sulawesi Sea is really that big?"

With kids, one never really knows what to expect, and such was the case during the storytelling sessions conducted for children from five barangays of Mabini, Batangas, during the Christmas school break. The children listened to the stories intently enough, but when their turn came to ask questions, they invariably amused or baffled the storytellers.

They were the first listeners to one of the stories in CI-Philippines’ My Sulu-Sulawesi Seas series of children’s storybooks. The series consists of three stories featuring various key areas of the Sulu-Sulawesi Seascape: Verde Island Passage, Cagayan Ridge, Tubbataha Reef, and Turtle Islands.

Braving the cold waters of Balayan Bay in Batangas over the holiday season, a group of fishermen who have worked in the sea all their lives were suddenly uncomfortable in the water, as they found themselves fumbling with unfamiliar equipment and trying to remember recently-learned breathing techniques.

The fishermen were Bantay Dagat (Sea Watch) volunteer group members who were undergoing basic training on SCUBA diving. The group consisted of 13 Bantay Dagat members (11 from the town of Mabini and 2 from the adjacent town of Tingloy), who were certified as open water divers after the training. From this group, six were also selected to undergo additional training for advanced diving.

The training was intended to enable the Bantay Dagat to monitor divers’ activities and promote responsible diving. The Bantay Dagat of Mabini has been helping to protect the waters of Batangas against illegal fishing activities for almost a decade now, and has been largely successful at it. However, destructive fishing activities are no longer the huge problem that it had once been. These days, one of the greatest threats to the waters of Balayan Bay and the Verde Island Passage are not dynamite or cyanide fishing, but something that can be just as destructive: irresponsible diving.