Hello mates! I was
thinking today of a good topic on IEM to write and share with you. The
first thing that came into my mind is how
IEM can actually be applied in actual situation. I kept on listing several
projects and activities being undertaken in the Philippines and I was drawn to this
celebrated case of Manila Bay Clean-up which has been a headline for all major newspapers. Many environmentalists considered this
as a major milestone, a major achievement in environmental protection and
conservation. This is how it goes.
Manila Bay – Facts and Significance
Manila Bay is a natural harbour which serves the Port
of Manila and used to be considered as one of the best natural harbours in
Southeast Asia. It is located around
the capital city of Manila which is the centre of trade and commerce in the
Philippines. It has a total area of 1,994 km2 and a coastline of 190
km. Several major rivers and tributaries from nine nearby provinces and 17
cities that make up the National Capital Region (NCR) drains in Manila Bay.
Manila Bay is known for
being a significant part of the
historical episodes that shaped the country’s human, political, and economic
geography. It is a main source of food and livelihood for millions of
Filipinos and the main route for maritime, trade and travel. Moreover, it is
considered a major tourist destination
and a sanctuary for migratory birds and other wildlife.
Indeed, Manila Bay has
been regarded before as a place with the perfect
sunrise and sunset and a haven for recreation and relaxation. It is quite
unimaginable these time that these attributes have faded fade like a star losing its
brightness. As the country’s economic progresses, many development projects and
industries have been established near Manila Bay and have lured massive
migration of Filipinos toward the city. NCR is the smallest region in the
country but has the biggest population of 11,553,427 as of 2007. Maybe, no one has ever thought that such
development will have a tremendous impact on Manila Bay as its overall present
state has been deteriorated or maybe because the focus is more on economic
development thereby losing attention and consideration to the environmental state of Manila
Bay.
Problems Leading to the Case
So what have been the
problems? What are the issues that drove the ‘concerned citizens’ to petition
the Court with regards to Manila Bay Clean-up?
Well, from being
considered as one of the world’s best natural harbour, Manila Bay is now declared as a pollution hotspot. This is a sad
situation that Filipinos have to deal with and probably live with for the rest
of their lives. It has been literally made a
‘comfort room’ or a ‘giant waste dump’ where various wastes from industry
companies, households, informal settlers and establishments were dumped within
its entirety. Be it solid, liquid or even gas wastes maybe, name it and
Manila Bay probably has it. Within Manila Bay, ‘domestic sewage, toxic
industrial effluents from factories and shipping operations, leachate from
garbage dumps, and runoff from chemical agriculture, converge into a hideous
cocktail’ said Greenpeace (Interaction.com, 2013). It is quite frustrating to
see such situation, the Philippines has lost one important treasure.
There have already been some
attempts and efforts in the past that aimed to address the deteriorating
condition of Manila Bay. However, these activities
are fragmented and scattered all over the place. Hence, they produces very
little or no impact at all. More so, it is just a waste of effort and money. In
other words, the problem remained the same and is in fact worsening.
However hopeless it may
seem, there are still concerned groups that do believe a miracle can save
Manila Bay through a concerted and more focused effort of the government. “When
you think of Manila Bay, contrasting images come to mind: First of a coastline
littered with trash, and second, of a beautiful sunset, but what is really
interesting is that underneath these
familiar images, Manila Bay, with all its pollution, still contains life and
gives life,” said Dr. Laura David of UP-MSI (Interaction.com, 2013). Thus,
a petition was filed in the Court and eventually rewarded with the continuing
writ of mandamus to address issues on solid wastes, liquid wastes and informal
settlers which are major contributor of pollution in the area. More specifically,
the Court mentioned the full implementation of the Manila Bay Coastal Strategy
Plan (MBCSP).
It is not my desire in
this post to discuss lengthily on the legal issues however, but rather to show how
I see the opportunity of applying the
ideals of IEM to resolve the issues in Manila Bay through evaluation of the
MBCSP and referencing the Court decision.
IEM in Action
As mentioned in my earlier
post, with reference to Born and Sonzogni’s (1995) criteria in particular, an
evaluation can be made if actions toward managing Manila Bay is integrated or
not. It is quite fascinating to know how
the Court decision and implementation of the MBCSP discusses impliedly the
application of an integrated approach towards Manila Bay clean-up and
rehabilitation. The following questions can be drawn to evaluate
integration: First, are actions toward cleaning Manila Bay comprehensive? Second,
have they considered interconnectiveness? Third, how do they work or possibly
worked strategically? And lastly, is there a place for coordination/ interaction
between and among various stakeholders?
As the decision of the
Court primarily point to MBCSP implementation, the first criteria thus
evaluates its comprehensiveness. The MBCSP probably have considered all important aspects of Manila Bay with specific activities
addressing the triple bottom line (social, economic and environment). The set
of activities ranges from cleaning and rehabilitating Manila Bay (environment),
providing resettlement houses for informal settlers (social) and provision of
alternative livelihoods (economic). But is it comprehensive enough? My respond
is in the positive as the plan in my opinion is detailed enough to capture the
problem. The second criteria talks about interconnectiveness. How has this been
considered in the decision or plan? Specific regards were made regarding the
flow of pollution from surrounding provinces and cities to rivers and waterways
that eventually drains to the bay. Mapping
of sources of pollution, location of industries, households and informal
settlers, and water quality attributes were also undertaken. The
interconnections among these important factors have been well established.
The decision and the plan
may be considered strategic as they were
focused on addressing the core problem which is pollution. All projects and
activities identified were anchored to this core problem. More so, all
government agencies tasked to address the issue were to gather and work as one in
order to harmonise and solidify their efforts strategically. All activities are
detailed with regards responsible person or agency to implement them, hence
avoiding overlapping of functions. One of the best outcome resulted from the
decision and the plan was that it promotes
better coordination and interactions between and among various stakeholders.
It does avoid fragmented actions with little significance or impact in solving
the problem. Overall, I say that the Court decision and the plan promote an
integrated approach to Manila Bay clean-up and rehabilitation based from the
four criteria.
A Summary of IEM Application and its Benefits to
Manila Bay
In general, Manila Bay clean-up
and rehabilitation outstandingly promote an integrated management approach. The
following specifically refer to integration and its benefits:
1. It promotes integration of vertical and horizontal
aspect of management where all concerned agencies were tasked to work together;
2. It resolved issues of overlapping functions as each
agencies have specific tasked to accomplished;
3. It provides a holistic view of the problem by
interconnecting systems (triple bottom line considerations);
4. It creates a venue for better coordination and interaction of all key
stakeholders;
5. It avoids wastage of effort and resources;
6. It provides a clearer direction and detailed road map
to attain the objective of solving the problem;
7. It is strategically implementable or doable; and
8. It is purpose driven.
Future Challenges
The implementation of IEM in Manila Bay cleanup and
rehabilitation call on more challenges such as development of public-private
partnership, intensive information, education and communication campaign and
more funding.
The challenge in bringing Manila Bay back to its
glorious day as a premier natural harbour may take some time. But it is not
hopeless, nonetheless. With growing concerns for the environment by the Filipino people and
an effective tool like IEM, the clean-up and rehabilitation is very much possible. The challenge now is to implement this as effective
and efficient as possible. Together, I believed that the Filipinos can do this.There you go mates. Today I just demonstrated how IEM worked and applied in dealing with a problem like that of Manila Bay. There may be similar situation in your area that you can share. I will be delighted to hear from you. Thank you very much!
References
Born, S.M., Sonzogni, W.C. 1995. Integrated
Environmental Management: Strengthening the Conceptualization. Environmental
Management 19:167-181.
Interaction.com (2013). Not Yet Sunset: Super Toxic
Manila can be Saved – UP scientists, Greenpeace. July 23.
Operational Plan for the
Manila Bay Coastal Strategy (OPMBCS) as downloaded from http://www.emb.gov.ph/mbemp/dloads/opmbcs%20ex%20sum.pdf
Supreme Court Decision as
downloaded from http://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/jurisprudence/2011/february2011/171947-48.htm
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