US Embassy Press Attacé Kurt Hoyer talked about environmental and ocean reporting and global issues affecting the Philippines at the American Studies Resource Center of the Silliman University Library last Dec.7.
According to Hoyer, environmental issues are always brought up in the embassy. “For a number of years, [we] have been helping the Philippines with issues of maritime domain…it’s helping the Philippines set up a series of radar and other installations so that if a ship or a boat comes in to the Philippines seas…you’ll know where it is, you’ll know what it is, you know what to do about it,” he said.
The spokesperson also said that a lot of what they do directly involve the environment such as when a US navy ship crashed into the Tubbataha Reef in Palawan and did an extensive amount of damage in the area. “Another thing is the problem of fishing, poaching of turtles, poaching of sea life, overfishing of sharks…so being able to see what’s out in the maritime domain…helps the country respond to those things better,” he added.
Hoyer said that a major factor causing environmental damage is “because people don’t have any other choice.” “Traditional fishermen who’ve been fishing all their lives [trace] five or six generations back. That’s what they know how to do…that’s how they survive,” he said.
On a Google Hangouts session with Jeremy Gustafson, the office director of USAID Office of Environment, Energy and Climate Change, they also tackled issues on forestry, clean energy, water, climate adaptation, and biodiversity, the five sectors of the USAID environment program.
“The US Embassy’s development program here with biodiversity is one of the largest in the world. I guess Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia are on the top 3,” Gustafson said. “We are currently implementing [a] marine biodiversity program called ECOFISH which is focused on working with local treaties…we are considering Negros for one of the sites,” he added.
On issues regarding renewable energy sources’ impact on wildlife, Gustafson said that renewable energy is great globally because “it’s reducing emissions and hopefully stemming climate change and whatever changes but it can definitely have impacts on local wildlife.” “That’s something we’re very careful about,” he added. Hoyer added that the US government has contributed “over 40 million dollars” in the Philippine Tropical Rainforest Conservation Foundation to help preserve Philippine forests.
Overfishing was also a topic that was brought up during the forum. “The main focus of our marine program right now is working with different barangays to identify the most vital fish spotting areas and then working with them to establish no fishing zones so that it will help increase fish biomass,” Gustafson said. “The fish catches have declined significantly over the last several decades and, in addition to establishing no fish zones in key spotting areas, our basic problem is that the government of the Philippines has been struggling to identify how many fisherfolk are out there [who are] actually relying on this resource for their livelihood,” he added.
“The US Embassy has come up with a solution by developing a mobile application where different barangays could track when and where the fishermen fish. “Registering helps them [the embassy] identify who’s fishing and when and how it kind of adds up but then fisherfolk can [also] get their access to the government services like healthcare services and also employment opportunities,” Gustafson said.
Hoyer encouraged the students to join the Young South East Asian Leadership Initiative (YSEALI), a program created by the Obama administration to get the youth involved in student engagement, environment, and entrepreneurship. He also encouraged student journalists “to document ideas, write what you see and write what you think about…write environmental stories that are important to you.”
“If you are not a student journalist, try to bend down and pick up trash and put it in a trash can. Things [as] simple as that. And when you see something you think you are passionate about [or] you see a problem that needs to be fixed, fix it,” Hoyer added. (Alissa Lacson/SU Masscom)
