#Status of Coral Reefs 2002 - International Coral Reef Action Network

Status of Southeast Asia Coral Reefs
MAB
PALAWAN, PHILIPPINES – MAN AND THE BIOSPHERE RESERVE
The Palawan Biosphere Reserve includes the entire Province of Palawan, in the
Philippines, covering around 14 000km 2 and populated by 750,000 people. Palawan
has 1,700 islands and islets, and was declared as a Biosphere Reserve, one of only
two in the country, by UNESCO in 1991. Within its territory is the Tubbataha Reef
which was listed as a World Heritage Area in 1994. The province has a unique and
diverse fauna and flora and is known as a ‘last ecological frontier’. Palawan has some
of the best developed coral reefs in the country, with fringing and patch reefs along
most of the coast and live coral cover reaching between 50 - 90% in some places.
However, agriculture, fishing (especially with explosives and poisons), mineral
extraction and offshore oil and natural gas, as well as tourism, threaten the
environment.
In 1992, a ‘Strategic Environmental Plan’ for Palawan was adopted and through it an
‘Environmentally Critical Areas Network’ is being implemented. The Environmentally
Critical Areas Network is a system of management zones graded from strictly
protected to development areas. The terrestrial component has a core zone, a buffer
zone (divided into a restricted, controlled and traditional use areas) and a multiple
/manipulative use area. The coastal/marine component also has a core and multiple
use zone.
Ecological Monitoring: Reef Check has been conducted in Palawan since 1997 and
the Marine Science Institute of the University of the Philippines has included Palawan
in their occasional nation wide surveys of coral reef health.
Socio-economic Monitoring: Rapid Rural Assessment (RRA) of the coastal areas of in
Palawan is on going.
Coral reefs are 30% of the natural resources.
Ecological Monitoring is effective.
Socio-economic Monitoring is effective.
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