TACLOBAN CITY — Environmental groups are urging the Senate for the immediate passage of 11 bills that are deemed critical to the health and restoration of the country’s biodiversity.

One of these pending bills, the Panaon Island Protected Seascape Bill, passed the House of Representatives in November 2023 but has remained dormant in the Senate.

The bill, when passed into law, will include the environmentally critical island of Southern Leyte in the Expanded National Integrated Protected Areas System Act (ENIPAS), RA 11038.

Panaon Island — which comprises the towns of Liloan, San Francisco, Pintuyan and San Ricardo — was found by an international study to be among the priority reefs that will highly likely withstand the devastating impacts of climate change.

The environmental conservationist group Oceana said the passage of the 11 bills into law will comply with the Philippines’ commitment to the 30x30 biodiversity target embedded in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

The framework ensures that at least 30 percent of terrestrial, inland water and marine areas, especially those of particular importance for biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services, are effectively conserved and managed by 2030. This is vital for reversing the alarming global decline in biodiversity.  

To recall, the Philippines is one of six countries located within the Coral Triangle, the global epicenter of marine biodiversity. This region is home to about 600 hard coral species and over 2,000 reef fishes.

While these areas are critical to maintaining marine biodiversity, sustaining local food systems and livelihoods and protecting coasts, they are constantly under threat due to environmental pressures and human activities such as pollution, destructive fishing activities, overfishing, reclamation projects and more recently, the Crown of Thorns Starfish infestation and coral bleaching.

The inclusion of Panaon Island in the ENIPAS could bolster efforts to protect marine resources while promoting ecologically friendly tourism in the island. Oceana said that by designating and enhancing protections for critical marine areas, we can improve the resilience of coral reefs and other vital marine ecosystems.

“The passage of the bill declaring Panaon Island as a protected seascape is crucial for safeguarding our vastly threatened corals and marine ecosystems and requires management measures to address them,” Oceana vice president Gloria Estenzo Ramos says.