Environment a serious concern; Panglao waters a world bio-spot
By Ven rebo Arigo
Environmental protection is always a serious cause for concern if Boholanos have to balance progress and attain sustainable development, according to Rep. Edgar Chatto.
He asserted that Bohol has been positioned facing its vision precisely because wise ecological management and responsible use of resources have become louder calls of the time.
Bohol has been envisioned to become “a prime eco-cultural tourism destination and a balanced agro-industrial province.â€
Environmental groups, sustainable development advocates and other concerned Boholanos have warned of human interventions that accelerate climate change, test nature’s limit or ruin the very web of life.
They likewise cautioned against pushing for “senseless, heartless†developments that simply serve man’s insatiable greed.
Chatto, the leading gubernatorial contender, batted for a trend of progress that should follow a meaningful planned change.
He said there is wisdom in having policies and programs consistent with the basic principles of development framed by genuine multi-sectoral consultations.
In his provincewide sorties, Chatto listened to views that Bohol could move in pursuit of what the Boholanos plan and want for their great province.
They also indicated that ecologically-sensitive investments and economic infrastructures or activities of unusual magnitude should be compatible with duly-approved plans, not dictating the pace of environmental degradation.
When pressed to comment on the controversial 460-hectare reclamation project in Panglao Bay, Chatto said he likes to be briefed about the whole thing for his intelligent comment.
All that have been positively reported about the proposed environmentally-sensitive concrete mass drying the sea might just yet be substantially lacking, he hinted.
The last-termer Bohol congressman who chairs the House tourism committee reiterated, however, that the vision for the province, the legislative milestone Bohol Environment Code and the accepted principles of eco-tourism could provide guide.
PANGLAO’S IMPORTANCE TO WORLD BIODIVERSITY
Amid moves to dry Panglao seas up by the almost 500-hectare reclamation, discoveries by experts from 19 countries during their two expeditions could indicate the monstrous importance of Panglao waters to planet Earth.
The Panglao Marine Biodiversity Project in 2004 and the Panglao Deep-Sea Cruise in 2005 gathered over 200 new crustaceans and more than 2,000 new mollusks in an unexpected collection of species labeled as a major scientific feat.
For the discoveries in the seawaters off Panglao island, the Philippines has magnified its spot as the “center of the center†of marine biodiversity in the world. The country has beaten Indonesia in “higher concentration of species per unit area.â€
Panglao has thus also polished its value in the vastness of the so-called Coral Triangle, reputed to contain the greatest number of marine kinds, which include the Philippines, Indonesia, Taiwan and distant Papua New Guinea.
The Coral Triangle has sustained human existence in a great part of the world.
Eighty scientists, technicians, students and volunteers took part in the two Panglao water explorations which were described as “the most comprehensive survey of benthic invertebrates anywhere in the tropics ever conducted.â€
The results of the twin researches have not just enhanced the wonders of creation as they also caused growing vigilance for the conservation of the web of life itself.
Panglao seawaters are among the richest marine biodiversity sites on Earth.
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