Published May 11, 2021, 12:07 AM
By virtue of Presidential Proclamation No. 37 issued by President Joseph Ejercito Estrada in 1999, the month of May was declared as the Month of the Ocean (MOO). Perhaps preoccupied by the pressing demands of containing a still-raging pandemic, the government’s current observance of May as the Month of the Ocean is understandably muted and low-key.
This year’s observance of Month of the Ocean is doubly significant. It marks the start of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development from 2021 to 2030. The Philippines’ Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) headlines its alignment by adopting the theme of the UN’s decade-long observance, The Science We Need for the Ocean We Want. Key challenges have been identified for each year of the decade.
Philippine Environmental Health Groups call for the protection of fishery resources from chemical pollution 04.05.2021 - Quezon City, Philippines - EcoWaste Coalition
As the Month of the Ocean is observed this May, environmental health groups EcoWaste Coalition and Oceana Philippines urged the government and other sectors to give close attention to the adverse impact of chemical pollution on the country’s dwindling fishery production.
The groups’ clarion call for action to protect fish and other marine organisms from various pollutants followed the release of a new report detailing how chemical pollution is harmfully impacting the aquatic food chain, noting that “progress will require fundamental changes in the way we produce, use and manage chemicals and their associated wastes.”
A fisherman from Baseco Compound in Tondo, Manila (Photo courtesy of EcoWaste Coalition)
According to the report “Aquatic Pollutants in Oceans and Fisheries,” chemical pollution is the bigger culprit since it “compromises reproduction, development, and immune systems among aquatic and marine organisms”.
“As a fishing dependent and archipelagic nation, it is incumbent on us to insist and support global and local action that will prevent and control chemical and waste pollution from all sources, which is making the ocean ecosystems sick and incapable of meeting the huge demand for fish,” said Aileen Lucero, National Coordinator of the EcoWaste Coalition.
The group is a participating organization of the International Pollutants Elimination (IPEN), which, along with the National Toxics Network (NTN) of Australia, published the report.
Tonnes of toxic waste collected from British municipal dumps is being sent illegally to Africa in flagrant breach of this country’s obligation to ensure its rapidly growing mountain of defunct televisions, computers and gadgets are disposed of safely.
Hundreds of thousands of discarded items, which under British law must be dismantled or recycled by specialist contractors, are being packaged into cargo containers and shipped to countries such as Nigeria and Ghana, where they are stripped of their raw metals by young men and children working on poisoned waste dumps.
In a joint investigation by
The Independent, Sky News, and Greenpeace, a television that had been broken beyond repair was tracked to an electronics market in Lagos, Nigeria, after being left at a civic amenity site in Basingstoke run by Hampshire Country Council. Under environmental protection laws It was classified as hazardous waste and should never have left the UK.