Green economy, blue world

Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.

NINFA R. LEONARDIA Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ Editor CHERYL CRUZ Desk Editor PATRICK PANGILINAN Busines Editor NIDA A. BUENAFE Sports Editor RENE GENOVE Bureau Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer

Discussions about the environment can never be enough. Celebrating World Environment Month each year has not guaranteed that concerns over the environment can be addressed. Civil society and nongovernment organizations have pitched in to also do their share, but to naught, perhaps, because the problems and challenges have stretched through the years, oftentimes with little or no answers.

The Global Development Learning Network Seminar Series has launched its second session on what it calls the “greening growth in coastal cities.” Coastal ecosystems such as coral reefs, mangroves, salt marshes, and sea grass beds are highly productive environments at the interface of land and sea. Moreover, coastal areas have relatively dense human settlements.

This venture of the World Bank aims to identify investments in ocean and coastal management, thereby yielding the greatest dividends. The discussions, done through video conferencing, included 13 sites all over the world, including Silliman University and the Asian Institute of Management from the Philippines. The rest of the sites are the World Bank office in Jakarta, Indonesia; Hasanuddin University in Makassar, Indonesia; Chulalongkorn University, Thailand; Hanoi, Vietnam; Ho Chi Minh City; the World Bank office in Beijing, China; Xiamen, China; Shanghai, China; Tokyo, Japan; Washington, D.C., USA; and, Papua New Guinea. Locally, the video conferencing held at the Knowledge Development Center of World Bank in Silliman University was attended by government officials, city and provincial representatives, graduate students, civil society organizations, and other stakeholders.

From the discussions, it was revealed that as much as 40 percent of the world's population now lives within 100 kms. of the shoreline. Many of the world's great cities, markets, and industries have risen along the coast because of access to trade and resources. Only recently, however, have we started to understand that all of these depend on healthy coastal and oceans ecosystems.

With this endeavor for the oceans, there is a unique opportunity for the East Asian and Pacific region to collaborate in identifying practical solutions for some of the most challenging issues currently encountered by implementers in the field.*