by:
Rhea Grace A. La Plana
Ipil,
Zamboanga
Sibugay – The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
(FAO-UN) has invited the local government unit (LGU) of Ipilfor its 32nd
Session of the Committee on Fisheries (COFI) which was held on July 11-15 in
Italy, Rome.
The LGU
is currently engaged with Rare Philippines Inc., an international environmental
NGO based in Arlington, Virginia, USA, in the implementation of a global fisheries
management program called Fish Forever. It is fortunate enough to be the lone
LGU in the Philippines invited to the event.
Having
received the award as “2015 Best Managed Marine Protected Area (MPA), the
Buluan Island Marine Sanctuary (BIMS) has a lot to share in the international
stage in terms of how it was able to implement a successful community-initiated
fishery conservation effort.
It is a
flagship food security, poverty alleviation and climate change adaptation
program of then mayor and now Zamboanga Sibugay Vice-Governor Eldwin M.
Alibutdan, being sustained by the incumbent Mayor Anamel C. Olegario. BIMS is an exceptional success story that
Rare is lobbying to the FAO to be emulated by global coastal communities which
are predominantly small-scale based fisheries.
Municipal
Environment and Natural Resources Officer Mr. Felix T. Badon attended the
session and shared the BIMS story torepresentatives from the countries of
Mozambique, Brazil, Indonesia, Germany and USA together with FAO.
This
event has put the local government of Ipil in the international map as model
LGU on small–scale fisheries implementation. It has paved the
way to seek potential additional funding for fisheries management as it established
linkages with donor partners.
The marine sanctuary is located in the
picturesque white sand island of Buluan and is being maintained by MENRO with
the support of its partner institutions: Rare Philippines Incorporated; Rare
Arlington, Virginia, USAandXavier Agriculture Extension Service Foundation Inc.
(XAESFI).
“The
main objectives of the 32nd session of the COFI focused towards combating
illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing; securing sustainable
small-scale fisheries; monitoring state of world fisheries and aquaculture and
progress in the implementation of the Code of Conduct for Responsible fisheries
and related instrument; catching documentation schemes; monitoring climate change
and other environmental matters,”Badon explained.
Every
two years, member states of the FAO-UN COFI regularly meet to discuss and
ratify global fisheries agreements and treaties, set management programs, share
approaches, tools, lessons learned and information with regard to improving the
global fisheries and aquaculture, among others.
Having BIMS as a “Sense of
Pride”, Badon aims to upgrade knowledge, information, and strategies to sustain
fisheries development efforts.