The two-day Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) Business Summit formally kicked off on Tuesday, with over 170 delegates from six Asian countries, including the Philippines, taking part to tackle business opportunities in the sustainable development of marine ecosystems in the region.
President Arroyo, who delivered the keynote speech, led a host of key government officials including Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap and Environment Secretary Eleazar Quinto in welcoming the delegates from the other five countries within the Coral Triangle region, the CT-6, namely, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste.
But it’s understood Solomon Islands did not send any reps to the summit. Officials instead attend a CTI meeting in Papua New Guinea also held Tuesday and yesterday.
The opening day of the summit was marred with protest by militant fisher groups denouncing the summit’s organizers for allegedly ignoring the coastal communities in designing the CTI Project, as well as the CTI Business Summit, which officials of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources blatantly denied.
Dr Lida Pet-Soede, head of the World Wide Fund Coral Triangle Program, underscored the need to protect the Coral Triangle in establishing new partnership between the private sector, policymakers and communities in exploring sustainable business opportunities, particularly in fishing.
“Through the summit, we hope that the private sector will learn about the Coral Triangle, the Coral Triangle Initiative and the importance of protecting it from destructive business practices,” she said.
Attending the first-ever business summit from the CT-6 are leaders from the private-sector communications, seafood, travel, finance and oil-and-gas industries.
According to Pet-Soede, the current situation of the Coral Triangle calls for a more responsible way of doing business, especially in the face of the impacts of global warming and climate change.
She said through the summit, participants will learn the best practices, and hopefully, commit to going green, especially in ensuring sustainable fishery in the region.
Among the specific targets of the summit, she said, is to bring together buyers and producers in the fisheries sectors and encourage them to provide incentives that will promote sustainable fisheries, in partnership with coastal communities.
The Coral Triangle is scientifically described as the area of ocean bounded by the countries of Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, the Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste.
The region is considered the most important marine environment on the planet, but is under serious threat from overexploitation, environmental degradation, poverty and the global economic recession — all compounded by severe climate change — making a compelling case for sustainable investment and business in the Coral Triangle.
According to Pet-Soede, the summit also hopes to provide a platform for financial support and investment for businesses willing to commit to sustainability and green growth.
She said there is a growing demand for seafood and other marine products from the region, as well as increased tourism, coastal development and oil-and-gas interests, all driven by exploding population growth and increasing affluence.
“Business leaders have a central role to play in the protection and ongoing management of this unique and important marine environment,” she said.
She said there are emerging opportunities for businesses willing to operate more responsibly and growing demands from consumers for greener products.
“This summit will help business leaders identify what some of those opportunities are,” she said.
During the same press conference, Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said the summit is pioneering actions to move beyond just protecting the marine environment.
“The only way to make it sustainable is to find the best practices,” he said, with the cooperation of the business sector.
“We want to see how far we can go, to provide a working business model.
“What is important is we recognise what we have done so far; how far can we go further and what are the businesses we can use,” he said.
The Philippines, he said, is proud to have done a lot in terms of promoting sustainability in the fishery sector.
In 2001, when President Arroyo took over, he said there were no mariculture parks in the Philippines.
Today, he said there are 48 spread across the country.
Fish production, he added, also increased from 3 million metric tonnes in 2001 to 5 million metric tonnes by the last quarter of 2009 despite the devastating typhoons that destroyed infrastructure put up for the purpose.
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