Ambassador Alberto Encomienda, who has retired from the Department of Foreign Affairs, suggested in 2008 the establishment of a transboundary peace park in the disputed Spratlys as part of the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, Part IX.
This idea was earlier proposed by the Philippines in the 4th Meeting of the Philippines-Vietnam Joint Permanent Working Group on Maritime & Ocean Governance on Sept. 29 to Oct. 4, 2007 in Hanoi, Vietnam, and reiterated by the scientists who participated in the Conference on the Results of the Philippines-Vietnam JOMSRE-SCS I to IV held in Ha Long City, Vietnam, on 26-29 March 2008 (see JOMSRE Proceedings, 2008).
“A transboundary peace park is a protected area that spans boundaries of more than one country or subnational entity, where the political border sectors that are enclosed within its area are abolished” (Internet).
The primary reasons for the creation of such parks or protected areas are to preserve the natural migration patterns of animals and to ensure sufficient food and water sources for population growth and maintenance.
But beyond these, peace parks are useful in many ways: they also encourage tourism and economic development, promote good will among neighboring countries, and facilitate travel of indigenous inhabitants of the area (rephrased from material in the Internet); marine protected areas maintain high fish abundance and high marine biodiversity and export these species (adults, juveniles, larvae) to marine areas surrounding them; they also serve as centers of speciation (evolution) in the long-term.
Peace Parks have been established in the Americas, Europe and Asia, and are covered by treaties or memoranda of agreement among the countries involved.
The establishment of the Spratlys Transborder Protected Area or Peace Park will bring about good will, peace, and harmony among countries bordering the South China Sea or West Philippine Sea, including China, Vietnam and the Philippines.
It will also ensure maritime security in the area, including the safety of navigation and search and rescue operations.
All these are in addition to studies on the marine sciences, climate change and weather anomalies, as well as the control of pollution.
As an indication of the beneficial results of the Philippine-Vietnam research cooperation in the Spratlys, the Joint Oceanographic &Marine Scientific Research Expedition in the South China (JOMSRE-SCS I to IV) from 1996 to 2007 initiated by Philippine President Fidel V. Ramos and Vietnam President Le Duc Anh in 1994, may be cited.
This research program resulted in expanded scientific knowledge of the status of the coral reef environment, oceanography, and the biodiversity of the Spratlys area (see JOMSRE Proceedings, 2008).
We now know that the Spratlys share in the high species richness of the Philippines and Vietnam, being near the Coral Triangle. The biodiversity of the Spratlys consists of corals and other marine species associated with unique geological formations, the atolls. Its fish species are important to the surrounding countries because of the export of their propagules (eggs and larvae).
It is noted, for example, that fish larvae from the Spratlys could be carried by ocean currents to sea areas off northwestern Luzon. More research could show that the Spratlys export marine propagules within a wide area in the South China Sea.
The establishment of a Transborder Peace Park in the Spratlys would seem to be a way for countries to start working together towards delimiting their common boundaries.