A SENATOR has appealed to the Philippine government to consider investing in blue carbon initiatives to combat the worsening climate crisis.
“We need to invest in blue carbon initiatives that will help protect our coral reefs, seagrass beds, lush mangrove forests, and other coastal and marine sources,” Senate President Pro Tempore Lorna Regina “Loren” B. Legarda said in a statement on Thursday.
“Let us implement Philippine environmental laws in our efforts to bring back the bounty and restore the ecological integrity of our bodies of water,” she added.
She explained that the blue carbon economy entails creating ocean sectors and businesses that are “socially just, environmentally sustainable, and economically profitable.”
Sustainable management of marine resources and marine-linked sectors, she added, will be vital for climate change adaptation along the coasts.
Planting and rehabilitating mangroves and seagrasses along the shorelines of vulnerable coastal communities will serve as natural buffers against storm surges, flooding, erosion and other climate hazards, Ms. Legarda said.
A rich marine life, she pointed out, will also provide a reliable source of food, employment, energy and even recreation for many Filipinos.
“The risks are rapidly growing not only for those in coastal communities, as climate change drives rising sea levels, warmer oceans and increasingly ferocious cyclones,” she said.
“We need to recalibrate our strategies on climate change adaptation, invest in blue carbon initiatives, and embrace the available solutions that nature presents to us.” — Alyssa Nicole O. Tan
