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DENR spearheads nat'l plan of action vs marine debris

By Catherine Teves

September 28, 2021, 7:33 pm

<p><em>(PNA file photo) </em></p>

(PNA file photo) 

MANILA – The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is spearheading a national plan of action (NPOA) to help prevent, reduce, and manage marine litter (ML) in the country.

Set for launch in November this year, the NPOA promotes shared responsibility, accountability and participatory governance in addressing ML which is any persistent, manufactured or processed solid material discarded, disposed or abandoned in the marine and coastal environment.

"NPOA-ML's goal is zero waste in Philippine waters by 2040," said Solid Waste Management Division OIC Ma. Delia Cristina Valdez, of the DENR's Environmental Management Bureau, during Tuesday's webinar on the issue.

DENR Memorandum Circular 2021-10 already adopted NPOA-ML, she noted.

Valdez raised the urgency for action, noting international studies identified the Philippines as among the world's top ML sources.

One study even ranked the Philippines as the third leading ML source accounting for an estimated 0.8 million metric tons of plastic marine debris annually, she continued.

According to Valdez, NPOA-ML has 10 strategies for making the Philippines ML-free.

The first of such strategies is establishing science- and evidence-based baseline ML data that will help identify appropriate interventions to address the problem, she noted.

"While international studies helped raise the ML issue, the Philippines has yet to carry out its definitive baseline study," she said.

Valdez said NPOA-ML's strategies also include mainstreaming circular economy and sustainable consumption and production initiatives to help reduce waste, enhancing waste recovery and recycling coverage and markets, preventing leakage from collected or disposed waste, reducing maritime sources of ML, as well as managing litter that is already existing in riverine and marine environments.

The other strategies are enhancing policy support and enforcement for ML prevention and management, developing and implementing a strategic and targeted social marketing and communication campaign using various media, enabling sufficient and cost-effective financing and other institutional resource requirements for NPOA-ML's implementation as well as strengthening LGUS' capacities and local-level implementation of NPOA, she said further.

Among measures the government has been undertaking to help address the country's ML problem are cleaning coasts and waterways, conducting ML-related information and education campaigns and intensifying implementation of RA 9003 (Ecological Solid Waste Management Act).

NPOA-ML resulted from nationwide consultations DENR had with various agencies and the public, noted Valdez.

Feedback from such consultations helped align NPOA-ML with several international ML-related agreements and frameworks, she also said.

DENR is just awaiting the conclusion of the ongoing budget season before rolling out the NPOA-ML in November, she added. (PNA) 

 

 

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