MAMBAJAO, Camiguin, June 28 (PIA) – A P 100 million Coastal and Marine Ecosystems Rehabilitation Project (CMERP) is on the line for Camiguin to pump up protection and rehabilitation efforts on degraded marine habitats.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) region 10 through Director Ruth M. Tawantawan will ink a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the provincial local government to spearhead the implementation of the CMERP and to enforce laws for the protection and management of its natural resources.
The project aims to generate assessment of baseline conditions and come up with a map of the island’s coastal and marine ecosystem.
Other components of CMERP include rehabilitation, maintenance and protection, capacity building, knowledge management, and communication education and public awareness.
Camiguin Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO) Chief, Technical Services Division Roberto S. Rufino said CMERP will pick from what has been started by the Camiguin Coastal Resource Management Project (CCRMP), funded by the New Zealand Agency for International Development (NZAID).
He said CCRMP focused mostly in livelihood projects so bulk of the latest intervention will be invested in coral reef rehabilitation in partnership with Sangkalikasan, a group that spearheads rehabilitation of reefs in the country through fabrication and deployment of reef buds and coral asexual reproduction.
Rufino meanwhile stressed that the fund is part of the expanded national greening program, but since the province has already covered the terrestrial areas, DENR instead opted for coastal and marine rehabilitation. (JCV/ PIA 10)
