Our Ocean Conference: Poe champions PH progress and surging biodiversity

MOMBASA, Kenya — ​Representing the Philippines, Rep. Brian Poe of the FPJ Panday Bayanihan party-list delivered the Philippine Statement at the 11th Our Ocean Conference (OOC11), highlighting the country’s accelerated marine conservation milestones and unveiling five new national commitments to safeguard ocean ecosystems.

Poe opened the address by emphasizing the existential tie between the Filipino people and the marine environment. “As an archipelagic nation of more than 7,600 islands, the Philippines recognizes that healthy oceans are essential to food security, livelihoods, biodiversity conservation, climate resilience, and sustainable development,” he stated.

​Key milestones achieved

Poe further highlighted the wave of successfully met targets and accelerated timelines of the Philippines since the 10th edition of Our Ocean Conference (OOC10).

Article continues after this advertisement

​At the forefront of these achievements is the country’s aggressive expansion of its maritime networks under the Great Blue Wall Initiative. In a major development, Poe announced that the nation “committed 60 marine protected area networks by 2028 and have delivered 64 by 2026”. He further noted that all 64 of these networks “are now being monitored and supported nationwide,” while infrastructure development is also moving swiftly with all eight committed Marine Scientific Research Stations (MSRS) already underway.

FEATURED STORIES

NEWSINFO

NEWSINFO

NEWSINFO

​The country has also recorded a dramatic surge in biodiversity conservation metrics. Progress under Target 3 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework has skyrocketed from 20 percent to 90 percent. According to Poe, this rapid progress is actively “supporting our goal of expanding marine protection measures from less than 2 percent today to 16 percent in the coming years”.

​Simultaneously, policy frameworks and localized environmental programs are seeing steady expansion. Implementation of the country’s Coastal and Marine Ecosystems Management Program has risen from 70 percent to 80 percent. On the legislative and administrative front, the newly established Ocean Environments Policy Task Force is actively “advancing a National Ocean Environments Policy, with progress currently at 66 percent”.

​Capping off these milestones is a historic victory for deep-sea conservation: the formal designation of the world-renowned Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park as a Particularly Sensitive Sea Area (PSSA) is now officially complete. This designation grants the highly biodiverse reef ecosystem elevated protections from international shipping and maritime hazards, marking a major win for Philippine ecological governance on the global stage.

​Unveiling five new strategic commitments

The lawmaker also mapped out the Philippines’ next steps in science-based marine governance by sharing the country’s five new strategic commitments.

Article continues after this advertisement

Foremost among the newly announced initiatives is the development of a National Marine Spatial Planning Framework, which will serve as a cohesive blueprint to sustainably manage competing ocean uses across the archipelago. Alongside this, the government is rolling out the National Blue Carbon Action Partnership Roadmap, a dedicated framework specifically designed to “protect and restore blue carbon ecosystems” such as mangroves and seagrasses that act as critical carbon sinks.

​The country is also prioritizing reef rehabilitation by finalizing the National Program on Coral Reef Conservation and Recovery. The comprehensive reef recovery plan is currently at 40 percent completion and is expected to accelerate in the coming months.

Article continues after this advertisement

​To address the immediate threats of rising sea levels and erosion, the Philippines will continue its massive Nationwide Coastline Shift Study. This large-scale scientific assessment is actively mapping out “coastline shifts and coastal hazards covering 845 coastal municipalities and cities“ to better protect vulnerable coastal communities.

​Poe concluded his presentation with the fifth and last strategic commitment: how the state is advancing its maritime resource. /cb

Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.

Your subscription has been successful.