Department of Agrarian Reform

In the interest of the service and pursuant to Executive Order No. 192 and Republic Act 7586 which mandate the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to implement programs and projects on conservation and management of Philippine environments, a Coastal Environment Program (CEP) is hereby established.

SECTION 1. Rationale. Coastal environments provide production and livelihood opportunities to marginal families in the Philippines. They provide food, particularly protein, to majority of the country's population. Coastal environments encompass different ecosystems including shorelands, mangroves, seagrass beds and coral reefs, and are among the most productive and biologically diverse landscapes known to humans. In an archipelagic country like the Philippines and where over 80% of major settlements are located within ten to twenty kilometers from shorelines, coastal environments are critical and often dominant ecological presuppositions of economic, social and cultural life. The protection and proper management of coastal environments are an important concern of the State and explicitly mandated so by the Philippine Constitution.

SECTION 2. Basic Policy. It is the policy of the Department to exert maximum effort to implement the spirit and letter of the Constitution and of other laws defining its mandate, along and within the objectives, provisions, scoping and principles of the Philippine Strategy for Sustainable Development (PSSD), the Philippine Medium Term Development Plan (MTDP), and of the actions or agreements adopted by the Philippine Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD) related to pursuing the objectives of Agenda 21 of the United Nations Council for Environment and Development (UNCED) and of such other international protocols and treaties to which the Philippines has committed to abide.

The Department shall endeavor to enter into partnership with all sectors of the Philippine society to protect, conserve, and manage on a sustainable basis, coastal environments throughout the territorial jurisdiction of the country.

The integrity of coastal ecosystems and their productivity and biodiversity shall be maximized subject to some areas being designated for protection (exclusion of human exploitation) and others for sustainable use.

Equitability of access to and utilization of resources and the substantive involvement of local communities and stakeholders shall be basic concerns and objectives of programs, initiatives and arrangements that the Department might adopt and institute to protect and manage coastal environments. cd asia

SECTION 3. Definition of Terms. For the purposes of this Order, coastal environments shall be defined as those areas where, at any given time, socio-economic interactions among and between humans and land-based and sea-based natural resources occur, extending to no more than one (1) linear kilometer from the highest tide point landward and to 100 fathom isobath or fifteen linear kilometers (whichever is farther) seaward.

Coastal resources refer to all objects, events and processes of nature which are of value to humans, grouped primarily as follows:

1.         Shorelands: strips of land extending one linear kilometer from the highest tide level of the nearest body of water, including minerals, nutrients and life forms found under, on or above the land;

2.         Coastal forests: mangroves and other beach vegetation whose structures and forms are consistent with the definitions of forests contained in Presidential Decree 705 and the Forestry Master Plan of the Philippines.

3.         Fishery and wildlife resources: vertebrates, invertebrates and floral formations in aquatic ecosystems, inhabiting or deriving sustenance from coastal environments;

4.         Minerals: solids, gasses and other liquids useful to humans found on or under submerged land forms.

SECTION 4. Scope and Objectives. The CEP shall include all programs, projects and initiatives of the DENR related to or involving coastal environments; these include those which the Department is conducting jointly with or in support of other government units and agencies, people's and non-government organizations, and international entities or instrumentalities. CEP encompasses all Department concerns over the habitat and ecological support systems of coastal communities and fisheries specifically pertaining to their productivity, biodiversity, integrity, sustainability and equitability of access and use. CEP shall include activities related to protecting, conserving and rejuvenating the population of endangered species, and such other activities, including research, to mediate, ameliorate or mitigate threats to coastal resource systems.

The CEP shall aim to:

1. Coordinate, to minimize overlaps and to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the implementation of DENR activities on resource and environmental management of coastal ecosystems in the Philippines;

2. Integrate the strategies, thrusts and directions of DENR activities in coastal environments by way of:

2.1 Using community organizing as primary means of intervention to protect and improve the level of sustainable use of coastal resources;

2.2 Involving communities and immediate stakeholders of coastal resources as principal partners of the DENR to protect and manage coastal ecosystems;

2.3 Mobilizing as many of the other coastal activities of the Department and their associated financial and administrative resources, to support program thrusts in different locales in the country; and

2.4 Utilizing the total systems approach to identify resource issues, institutional problems and local opportunities for human welfare, in each coastal activity of the DENR;

3.         Attain higher levels of productivity, biodiversity, sustainability, stability and ecological integrity of coastal resource systems through promotion of environment friendly technologies;

4.         Improve cultural, socio-economic and generational equity in access to and use of coastal resources, mainly by (a) expanding livelihood opportunities, and (b) democratizing control of ecological support systems, in coastal environments;

5.         Expand sectoral participation in protecting and managing coastal environments;

6.         Upgrade the capability of Department personnel in both field and support offices, to undertake community-based protection and management of coastal environments and resource systems; and

7.         Develop and implement policies to augment community participation and control of access to and use of coastal resource systems and to promote and improve the productivity, biodiversity, sustainability and equity of human benefits and utilization of coastal environments and ecosystems.

SECTION 5. Implementing Guidelines. The CEP shall be implemented using principles and strategies of equitable and sustainable resource use as stipulated and defined by the Constitution, PSSD, MTDP and PCSD.

The implementation of CEP shall have to be consistent with all commitments and agreements entered into by the Philippines, including but not limited to Agenda 21 of UNCED, Montreal Protocol, Basel Convention, and the charters of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

CEP activities shall, to all extent possible, involve local communities and sectoral organizations (POs, NGOs, LGUs), in planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluating the activity. Earnest efforts shall be exerted to ensure that the leadership in CEP activities shall be reposed on, or at the least shared by DENR with, local leaders and community members.

All activities included in CEP shall to the extent possible and practical, involve three general phases of work:

Phase 1. Information, education and communication (IEC) campaign cum community organizing, to achieve higher levels of participation of local communities in the activity;

Phase 2. Introduction of intended interventions (or package of developmental activities) for eventual adoption by partner communities and sectors; and

Phase 3. Monitoring and evaluation of the activity to seek options and opportunities for follow-up and institutionalization.

Each phase may overlap to the extent deemed needed by implementors to ensure success of the activity.

SECTION 6. Program Organization. The CEP shall be organized as follows: existing Department programs, projects and other activities related to coastal environments shall be grouped ( and coordinated as such) into initially five categories comprising the organic components of the CEP; viz.,

1.         Coastal Habitats and Biodiversity. Activities within this component would be concerned mainly with the conservation and management of coastal areas in which humans and other floral and faunal populations inhabit and find sustenance. This component aims to enhance the biodiversity of floral and faunal populations in coastal areas. Included in this component would be activities related to the implementation of the National Integrated Protected Areas Systems (NIPAS) in coastal zones and the rehabilitation and improvement of mangroves, sea grasses, and coral reefs in designated coastal environments.

2.         Endangered Species. This component would focus on the conservation, protection and propagation of endangered species and on the protection and management of their habitats. Existing Department activities on marine turtles, crocodiles, sea snakes, shore birds, whales, sea cows, porpoises and others, shall be included in this component.

3.         Coastal Industries and Pollution. Included in this component would be activities related to understanding and regulating industrial activities and water pollution in coastal areas. A key concern of this component would be the study of the impact on coastal environments of industrial activities and draw down pollution, to identify and implement developmental and regulatory options to mitigate negative effects; also to be included in this component are activities to improve the institutional arrangements with which the Department shall coordinate coastal pollution control with other agencies of the government.

4.         Resource Inventory and Assessment. This component includes activities to identify and estimate existing and future stocks of ecologically-important coastal species and to evaluate the state of critical ecosystems in coastal environments. This component would include activities to understand how human and non-human populations interact to determine the character and productive potentials of coastal resource systems. cd asia

5.         Research and Special Projects. Included in this component are activities relating to developing, testing and applying methodologies to understand coastal environments and their associated resource systems. Likewise included would be activities to provide precedents for future larger scale Department initiatives on coastal systems, including those, because of their unique scoping or funding specifications, might not be assigned to the other four components of CEP (e.g. livelihood projects).

Other activities as may be later organized in the Department shall be assigned to either of the five components of CEP. The assignment of activities to any of the five components of CEP shall be done by the DENR CEP Steering Committee as provided for below in this Order.

SECTION 7. Program Management. Over-all direction and management of CEP shall be reposed on the Secretary who shall chair and derive advice from a national steering committee to be known as the "DENR Coastal Environment Program Steering Committee" (DCSC); the DCSC shall assist the Secretary formulate the policies and implementation guidelines for CEP. The DCSC shall be composed of the same officers and personnel of DENR who have been earlier constituted as "Coastal Resource Management Steering Committee" in Department Special Orders No. 161 and ____ both Series of 1993.

The Secretary may, upon his discretion, act en consulta for and on behalf of the committee for whatever purposes he may deem necessary, provided that such act is announced and opened for discussion in the next meeting of the DCSC. Likewise, the Secretary may act as he deems fit, to engage the DCSC or any officer and personnel of the Department to: (1) discharge specific functions related to the management and implementation of CEP, and (2) provide supervision and oversight of CEP-related activities nationwide, provided that such actions are consistent with existing laws and regulations of the State. All appointments in CEP shall be made only by the Secretary or by others who are specifically designated by him or as provided for in this Order.

Orders, policies, guidelines and actions of the Secretary or the DCSC shall be implemented by the Undersecretary for Field Operations with the assistance of a National Coastal Environment Program Coordinator (NCC).

The NCC shall direct an administrative and technical staff as may be formed by the Secretary, to formulate actions that the Undersecretary for Field Operations may adopt to implement the CEP. The NCC may undertake field activities as might be directed by either the Secretary or Undersecretary for Field Operations, for and on behalf of either official. All communications to other officers and personnel of the Department which the NCC might form time to time make on the expressed instruction of either the Secretary or Undersecretary for Field Operations should include the notation "For the Secretary" of "For the Undersecretary for Field Operations" as might be the case.

Regional Executive Directors may designate any officer of either RTD or PENRO or equivalent position to be the Regional Coastal Environment Program Coordinator (RCC) subject to the approval of their designation as such by the Secretary. The RCC shall assist the Regional Executive Director in the implementation of CEP activities in the region and to this effect he shall coordinate efforts with the RTDs, PENROs and CENROs in the region as might be appropriate.

Heads, leaders, managers or directors of DENR activities included in CEP shall be subject to the appointment (in the case of new activities) or confirmation (in the case of existing activities) by the Secretary; non-action by the Secretary to confirm heads, leaders, managers or directors of existing and current CEP-related activities within thirty (30) calendar days after the effectivity of this Order, shall be construed as valid confirmation of the person's designation.

SECTION 8. Funding. The funds to implement this Order shall be obtained from appropriate or designated items in the Annual General Appropriations for DENR or form such other sources both local and foreign as are or have been obtained for each activity in any of the components of CEP.

SECTION 9. Repealing Clause. All orders, circulars, official instructions or parts thereof inconsistent with the provisions of this Order are hereby repealed.

SECTION 10. Effectivity. This order shall take effect immediately.

(SGD.) ANGEL C. ALCALA

Secretary

RECOMMENDED BY:

Ricardo M. Umali Ben S. Malayang III

Undersecretary Undersecretary

Field Operations and Environment and Research

Natural Resources Management

Manuel E. Gonzalez, Jr. Cirilo B. Serna

Assistant Secretary Assistant Secretary

Management Planning and Policy

Romulo D. San Juan

Assistant Secretary

Legal Affairs

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Department of Agrarian Reform
Elliptical Road, Diliman
Quezon City, Philippines

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HELP CENTER

CONTACT INFORMATION

Department of Agrarian Reform Elliptical Road, Diliman Quezon City, Philippines

Copyright Information

Department of Agrarian Reform
Elliptical Road, Diliman
Quezon City, Philippines