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Looking deeper at our
seas 14 May 2009 |
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By the time you read
this column, I may be in Monado, Sulawesi, Indonesia – not to take a dip
into the island’s world-renowned diving spots – but to join the
President who will be attending the Coral Triangle Leaders’ meeting to
discuss the member countries’ programs in protecting and preserving
their respective marine resources. The Coral Triangle spans Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands, and Timor-Lest. It holds the richest concentration of iridescent corals, fish crustaceans, mollusks and marine plants in the world. It is home to over 600 reef-building coral species, or 75 percent of all species known to science, and more than 3,000species of reef fish. I may not be a professional diver or even a good swimmer at that, but I love the seas and the tremendous treasures and mysteries below. That is why I was so thankful when I learned that such an important meeting will be held to look deeper into issues that concern our waters and its resources, including the effects of climate change on them. Like you, I worry over the warning aired by some scientists that the world’s coral reefs, already facing several threats to their health because of all kinds of human disturbance, are under further threat from climate change, the complex effects arising from the burning of forests and fossil fuels. They said that carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases trap heat that aggravates global warming which raises ocean temperatures significantly, causing coral deaths. They added that increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere imperils the coral’s ability to construct reef. However, I got one comforting information from US marine biologist Dr. Kent Carpenter who said that the Coral Triangle has so far been spared the untoward effects of climate change. And the Philippines – which is right in the middle of this global center of marine biodiversity that is also referred to as the Amazon of the Seas – can help keep things that way, he stressed. Dr. Carpenter and UP Marine Ecology Science Institute professor Perry Alino are presenting a paper on coral concerns at the said leaders’ meeting. According to Dr. Carpenter, coral reefs in the Coral Triangle are not in immediate danger from climate change but from other seemingly unrelated activities like poor land use and overdevelopment, uncontrolled logging, and slash-and-burn agriculture (kaingin), which are hastening sedimentation which in turn smothers the corals. He said that people, no matter how far they are from the oceans, can still affect the corals. He explained that even the seemingly harmless act of collecting corals, or even applying non-biodegradable suntan lotion on oneself can adversely affect coral reefs. “Fifty people in the water with suntan lotion are actually leaching out things that can be toxic to marine species,” he said. I learned that Dr. Carpenter has been diving in the country’s oceans since the 70’s and considers the Philippines “the best place in the world for a marine biologist.” He laments though that our country has one of the highest rates of deforestation of any country on earth. So there you are, my friends. Our coral reefs may not be as endangered as those of other countries but we cannot just “swim” around doing nothing to protect and preserve it. They are under threat from humans “from us,” so let us dip into the issues and do something for the sake of generations to come. |
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