Home OpinionColumns Out of the box by Rita Linda V. JimenoWhat mining destroys What mining destroys By Rita Linda V. Jimeno | Jun. 01, 2015 at 12:01am 2 The Department of Environment and Natural Resources must get its act together. Last week, it proudly launched a five-year initiative which, it said, will boost the protection and conservation of five key marine biodiversity areas in the Philippines. One of them, it said, was the Verde Island passage in Batangas. Calling the project, “Strengthening the Marine Protected Areas to Conserve Marine Key Biodiversity,” the DENR announced that it had established more coordinated approaches to conservation efforts in the Verde island Passage and four other areas which are found in Surigao del Sur, Davao Gulf, Central Visayas and West Sulu sea. These areas are the richest in the country in terms of marine biodiversity and their protection is critical to ensure the fish population in the Southeast Asian region, not just the Philippines, the DENR said. The conservation efforts will involve limiting fishing and development activities to enable depleted fish stocks and the ecosystem to recover and replenish.
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