Beijing's reclamation causing environmental crisis, UN told; fisheries in grave peril

From InterAksyon (Jun 14): Beijing's reclamation causing environmental crisis, UN told; fisheries in grave peril



Reuters file photo of Chinese reclamation in the Mischief Reef.

Because of China's unbridled reclamation, the South China Sea "is already in an environmental crisis,” the Philippines' envoy to the United Nations has warned in a forum, where experts estimated that US$280 million in ecosystem products and services have been lost thus far. In another forum in Palawan, National Scientist Angel Alcala said a fishery crisis was a distinct peril, affecting not just the Philippines but China and Southeast Asia.

With at least 800 hectares of ocean filling or reclamation done by China - including areas well within the UNCLOS-mandated exclusive economic zone of countries like the Philippines - the marine environment has been so badly damaged that the biodiversity benefiting at least five nations is in grave peril, the experts stressed.

Ambassador Lourdes O. Yparraguirre, Philippine Permanent Representative to the United Nations, issued her warning before a hundred UN legal experts in a June 10 forum organized by the Philippines that focused on the protection and preservation of the marine environment.

With the theme, “UNCLOS and the Protection of the Marine Environment,” the event was held at the sidelines of the week-long 25th Meeting of States Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (SPLOS) at the UN Headquarters.

In that meeting of State Parties, the Philippine diplomatic delegation stressed before the UN that China's expansionist policy claiming almost all of the South China Sea should concern the international community as a whole.

Yparraguirre said China's increasingly aggressive rhetoric and action in the South China Sea, "threatens the integrity of the Convention, our constitution for the oceans." Ambassador Yparraguirre said.

UNCLOS, adopted in 1982 and entered into force in 1994, defines the rights and responsibilities of its States Parties with respect to their use of the world's oceans, establishing guidelines for businesses, the environment, and the management of marine natural resources.

“Today, the Philippines would like to bring focus on one of the most important parts of UNCLOS. As States Parties, we share the duty to protect and preserve the marine environment under Part XII. We also – and this extends to non-States Parties too – need to cooperate on a global and regional basis in formulating rules and standards and adopt measures in order to carry out this duty,” Ambassador Yparraguirre said.

The Philippines is a State Party to UNCLOS, which defines the rights and responsibilities of nations with respect to their use of the world's oceans, establishing guidelines for businesses, the environment, and the management of marine natural resources.

Part XII of UNCLOS deals with the protection and preservation of the marine environment.

Fishery crisis looms - scientist 

As the forum in the US where the Philippine delegation to the UN warned of the dire consequences of China's reclamation was under way, a noted Filipino scientists and ex-environment chief gave grim details of the long-term damage to the marine ecosystem in a forum in Coron, Palawan.

“The on going destruction of coral reef’s along the shoals and islands where the Chinese are doing their reclamation project and construction of structures and airstrip will start a slow decline on fish catch and a ripple effect that will affect fisheries not only in the Philippines but with other South East Asian country’s leading to a fishery crisis,” said National Scientist Dr. Angel Alcala.

Alcala gave a talk on the management of marine reserves at the recently concluded forum on marine conservation organized by the United States Embassy. He warned that an impending crisis would be massive, as it will affect not only fish catch but also the entire balance of the marine eco-system.

“The effect will cause a sudden change in the natural circulation of water, this will also affect the movement and distribution of propagules. This will then spread far and wide; nutrients from the area will diminish affecting fish stock and other aquatic creatures,” he pointed out.

Alcala, secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources between August 1992 and May 1995, said several studies had indicated the decline in the abundance of fish in the Spratlys since 2005 due to the increase in fishing activity. China's massive reclamation along the atolls and shoals in the area will only make the problem worse.

He called for for more scientific research and study in the area, and on "the effects to our ocean and marine ecosystem.”



National scientist Dr. Angel Alcala explains the dangers of the Chinese reclamation to the entire marine eco-system in the West Philippine Sea during the United States Embassy activity in Coron, Palawan.

'Chinese scientists must speak up'

Alcala also reached out to other scientists, asking them to speak up in hopes of stopping the destruction of the atolls, for everyone's - not just the Filipinos' - sake.

“Chinese scientist should also step in and ask their government to stop its activity that is destroying the rich coral reefs in the area because once the damage has been done, it will not only affect the Philippines but China as well,” he added.

Dr. Nygiel Armada, the deputy chief of party with ecosystem improvement for sustainable fisheries project of the USAID, agreed with Alcala on the impact of the Chinese project.

“Protecting the coral reefs in the area is the best way to go. We are already behind in the number of marine-protected areas that should be established and this destruction will push the decline of fish biomass as the marine ecosystem will be altered,” said Armada.

Dire impact on environment

The June 10 forum at the UN, meanwhile, featured two experts: Dr. Edgardo Gomez, Professor Emeritus of the University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute (UPMSI) and National Scientist of the Philippines; and Ms. Youna Lyons, senior research fellow in the Ocean and Policy Programme of the Centre for International Law of the National University of Singapore.

Assistant Secretary Benito Valeriano of the Maritime and Ocean Affairs Office and Assistant Secretary Eduardo Jose de Vega of the Office of Legal Affairs of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) also joined the panel.

In his presentation, Dr. Gomez discussed the effects of the massive, large-scale ocean filling, or what the media refers to as the “reclamation” that China has undertaken with great acceleration since the Philippines filed an arbitral case against it under UNCLOS in 2013. Some of the features where this has taken place include Johnson Reef, McKennan Reef, Mischief Reef, Cuarteron Reef, Gaven Reef and Fiery Cross Reef.

Dr. Gomez applied calculations of ecological economics to estimate that the 800 hectares of ocean filling or reclamation done by China, by destroying centuries-old coral reef ecosystems used as land fill, amounted to a loss worth US$280 million in ecosystem products and services.

“These are losses to the Vietnamese, the Filipinos, the Malaysians, the Indonesians, and to the Chinese themselves,” Dr. Gomez said.

As the West Philippine Sea is of such great value to the many countries in the Coral Triangle Region and beyond, “all countries that are contributing to the degradation and destruction of the shallow water ecosystems must stop their activities that are known to be detrimental to the productivity and biodiversity of the waters of Southeast Asia,” Gomez added.

He called as well for an immediate stop to the exploitation of endangered species, as well as overfishing and destructive fishing; extractive activities must be sustainable and no ecosystems must be further destroyed or compromised, Gomez said..

In the view of Lyons, meanwhile, a pragmatic approach is needed in the West Philippine Sea, including a moratorium to further development and dredging of new features in order to save what can be saved. Lyons proposed the creation of a peace park on the South China Sea, as suggested by marine science experts, focusing on a representative network of shallow features on the Spratly seamounts.

Lyons also reiterated States’ obligation to monitor, conduct environmental impact assessment (EIA), and communicate results or share EIA reports. She said that EIAs are specifically required when there are reasonable grounds for believing that planned activities may cause substantial pollution of, or significant and harmful changes to, the marine environment.
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/112377/beijings-reclamation-causing-environmental-crisis-un-told-fisheries-in-grave-peril