I am crossing the
Sulu Sea, awed by the beauty of small islets dotting the seascape. Amid these
serene views, my thoughts linger on President Digong's State of Nation Address
where he spent considerable time talking on the nexus of poverty, environment
degradation and development: asking why in areas of mining operations, there is
abject poverty among the people. In the same token he spoke about the inequity
of fishing access in Laguna lake, that by promoting fish farming to address
food security, small scale fishers are marginalized.
These observations translate as to how this current
administration will envision on .reducing that 40% poverty rate in the
fisheries sector: The critical agencies tasked to develop a cohesive
developmental agenda between agriculture, fisheries and environment and trade
and investments should work towards a new framework. This is exactly the way
into the future. This calls for a blue economy approach, promoting a circular
economy, improving efficiency and use of resources under a changed climate
regime and on the process, getting more value out from less resources.
With this thought, I will pursue the idea to draft a white
paper along with a friend from DENR on an ocean framework for the country,
expanding and providing more focus on DENR and the Department of Agriculture
(DA) on their role of not just
regulatory but providing leadership in sustainable development.
For this to happen, the departments of environment and
natural resources and the agriculture department must work together a long-term
sustainable development agenda designed to eradicate poverty in this country.
Wishful thinking? Perhaps but change is coming.
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