Nickelodeon, DOT initiative could kill coral reef –scientist

Coral World Park, a proposed project by Nickelodeon's parent company Viacom International Media Networks, has reignited protest online and offline following the Philippine Department of Tourism's (DOT's) recent declaration that it is "excited" about the development.

Several groups have taken up the "Coron is NOT Bikini Bottom" stance again and called for the preservation of Palawan's natural resources and biodiversity.

The DOT and Viacom have responded by saying that the project will create jobs for locals in Busuanga and that the theme park is meant to be a coral reef conservation program.

Reefs heal without human intervention

But for coral reef scientist Dr. Wilfredo "Al" Licuanan, coral reefs do not require human intervention to heal or proliferate. In an interview with GMA News Online on Wednesday, Licuanan cited the case of Tubbataha to illustrate the point that "the reef heals itself."

Tubbataha's rehabilitation has gone well, largely thanks to the site being closed to fishing and removing as much stressors as possible.

Barring grounding incidents like that in Tubbataha, Licuanan said, "There are many reasons our reefs have been degrading over the past 40 years... mostly human causes and then you have a layer of climate change."

Wholescale death from overstress

"The corals are already under stress, which means that there is a good chance that if we add just a little more...they will die whole scale," he added. "Let the reef heal itself. Bawasan lang 'yong stressors or kung hindi, matanggal 'yong stressors that cause the reef to degrade to begin with."

Coron is a particularly special case, as one endangered species — Anacropora spinosa — is endemic to the area. A structure as large as Coral World Park, which would invite heavy traffic to the area, will only add to the stress that is causing a negative impact on the reefs.

Too many people, too little awareness

"[We] have to remember that aside from the large number of people living near the reefs, the Philippines is number three globally sa area ng reefs. Almost anything you do near a coastal impact will have an impact on reefs," he said.

"As it is, there is very little awareness of that in popular resort towns. In Batangas, we have lots of people building weekend homes, resorts... they are attracted by what the sea has to offer, but many of them don't even realize that their construction activities is already adding damage

"[A]side from the construction, there's all that sewage. You cannot have a septic tank large enough to contain all the nutrients coming from waste," he continued.

Location is important

Viacom has yet to release the exact location of the Coral World Park, but assessing the impact of the project is made harder by the fact that the boundaries of coral reefs have yet to be mapped.

"One of the things that limits all the efforts concerning reefs is we don't have a proper map (of reefs) in the Philippines. We don't have maps where their boundaries are, and so if you notice, if you look at all of the status of reef reports, we talk about percent,"  he shared.

He continued, "We have technology from physicists and engineers [from] UP and Mapua to allow us to see what the reef looks like on a desktop, running Google Earth. Pero if you ask for a map, it doesn't exist. We have images that require large amounts of time to process and there's not enough people around to do the processing."

From what can be gathered so far, the Philippines' estimated reef area is at 25,000 square kilometers. "So we know very little in reality, but what we know doesn't look good," Licuanan said.

Repair reef programs don't work

He further clarified that not a single "reef repair program" involving human intervention has succeeded.

"If you meet somebody claiming they have successfully repaired a reef, almost all of the time, they talk about the number of corals they planted. But like I showed you, it's just simple geometry," he said.

"The average coral reef in the Philippines, based on our data now, 22% of the surface is covered by coral. If you want to transplant enough coral to fix a reef from zero to 22, you need 3 million corals per square kilometer and the 3 million has to be 30 centimeters in diameter."

"Rehabiliation" groups could plant 11,000 or 33,000 corals, but that's far from the necessary 3 million.

Misguided employment initiative

As for employment possibilities, he explained, "Where we have more successes is where the local community benefits from the health of the reef. Kung nakatali 'yong income nila doon sa condition ng reef, that means you want a kind of tourism that ang nagbebenefit ay 'yong local community, hindi 'yong malaking investor."

"You have to look at equity, lalo na when you have indigenous peoples involved," he added.

Australia's Greate Barrier Reef, for example, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that has actively educated and involved tourism operators in helping monitor the reef's health.

'Ayaw ng Palawan'

In a press conference on Wednesday, Environmental Legal Assistance Center (ELAC) Palawan executive director Atty. Gerthie Mayo-Anda declared that, "The indigenous people and fisherfolks [of Palawan] have spoken: Ayaw nila [sa project na ito]."

Anna Oposa of Save Philippine Seas added that the citizens of Coron have already reached out to them and other environmental groups to help block the Coral World Park project. — TJD, GMA News