ILOILO City – East Asian countries will pledge to reduce marine pollution.
It is one of the key items in the “Iloilo Ministerial Declaration on East Asian Region, Moving as One to Secure Healthy Oceans, People and Economies”, according to Aimee Gonzales, executive director of the Partnerships in Environmental Management for Seas of East Asia (PEMSEA) at the start of the East Asia Seas (EAS) Congress here yesterday.
One crucial issue lined up for the congress that will end in Nov. 30 is marine pollution. Delegates hope to come up with an action plan.
“This is the first regional declaration of that sort from this region which has been identified as a top 10 producer of plastics pollution,” said Gonzales.
There is a need to enforce Republic Act 9003 or the Solid Waste Management Act in the Philippines, said Atty. Analiza Rebuelta-Teh, undersecretary for Climate Change Service and Mining Concerns of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
“We have to rely on the capacity and political will of local government units (LGUs) to do that,” she added.
Topics during the conference are key programs of the Sustainable Development Strategy for the Seas of East Asia (SDG-SEA), climate change and the region’s response to the issue; sustainable fisheries, blue economy, how countries transition to the blue economy, capacity building and new technology, among others.
PEMSEA council chairperson Dr. Antonio La Viña said this conference goes beyond calls, meetings and rhetoric but will already talk about action.
“The 25-year-old PEMSEA is at its sturdiest and ripe for more innovation, big ideas, inclusive collaboration. It can only get better from here with the help of partners,” he said.
He also hoped the “culturally rich and ecologically diverse surroundings will further inspire us to reach our goals of preserving and protecting the seas of East Asia for generations to come.”
The EAS Congress is a tri-annual event participated in by delegates from PEMSEA partner countries to include Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, North Korea, Laos, South Korea, Singapore, Timor Leste and Vietnam.
It also gathered delegates from non-member countries such as Malaysia, Thailand, United States, United Kingdom, Sweden, Switzerland, France and Australia. (PNA)
