(Editor’s note: Following is an excerpt of an opinion proffered by the author regarding some common questions, objections and misconceptions on the planned offshore reclamation in Panglao Bay based on the concept of Oasis Leisure Islands Development Inc. to build artificial islands. The author’s views specifically deal on environmental issues concerning the proposed project.)

Issue # 1:Reclamation projects or building of man-made islands is a kiss of death to the ecology, particularly the biodiversity of the site ( Panglao Bay ), which is the natural habitat of countless marine species.

Dr. Quimio:

In the first place, ecology does not die. The word ecology means the study of interrelationships of organisms and their environment. This definition also differentiates the ecologist from an environmentalist. Ecologists look on organisms under certain environment. Environmentalists look on the environment, being the habitat of organisms. Environmentalists view that prevailing environment should always stay preserved to also preserve the continued existence of the biological diversity therein. The ecologists tinker about changing the environment and test how organisms respond to the change. The usual purpose is to determine the needs for their effective conservation and identify potential intervention measures that can further enhance the functionality of the whole ecosystems. One can be a highly active environmentalist, even without necessarily having the trained eye of an ecologist.

Marine ecosystems are living systems. A living system has the capacity to regenerate and heal itself, for as long as the disturbance is at moderate scale or the whole ecosystem is not totally devastated. If you cut all the branch of a rose at one time, you may kill the plant. But, cutting only those branches with beautiful flowers, new healthy shoots would sprout a the point of cut, the plant would tend to recover the initial form of its crown by replacing the cut branch by with new shoots, while other branches that did not experience cutting may not produce any new shoot at all. Young systems tend to have high inertia, or rate of regeneration to recover from disturbance. Young systems have higher rate of productivity than older ones. Older ecosystems are more or less closed systems, meaning the cycle of materials is more or less in equilibrium, or, inputs to the system are balanced by ecosystem outputs. Young tree plantations would fix higher amount of carbon per year than old natural forests, where carbon sequestration in annual growth is balanced by death and decomposition of old trees.

It is common for environmental activists to be skeptical or against proposed projects due to potential damage that can be caused by perturbations to local ecosystems. The first things that may come to the minds are the potential impacts to local biodiversity, possible contribution to climate change and the social costs of proposed development. On threat to biological diversity, this presumes that the precious organisms exist in the target site. There is no way a forest can be destroyed if the site is a desert. The contribution to climate change can happen if the local biomass, mostly sea grass, is released as carbon dioxide to the atmosphere or if there would be significant reduction in area for photosynthesis. It is however expected that terrestrial vegetation that would develop over the reclaimed area would even have higher primary productivity than the replaced marine waters. Regarding social costs, the opportunity cost due to conversion of the target shallow area for reclamation would be within acceptable level. The project will not block access of coastal communities to their fishing ground. The water depth in the area being only about a meter during high tide is most of the time too shallow to be navigable to small boats, thus, not good site to fishing.

Death of organisms on site is likely to happen given three circumstances. First, that such diversity is presumed as actually existing in the site under question; second, the nature and extent of disturbance caused by the reclamation would render the site unlivable to prevent regeneration; and third, such site has unique conditions that no other alternate sites can offer the same habitat types to affected organisms. My recent visit to proposed reclamation site indicated that these 3 conditions to be on the negative.

Regarding the first circumstance, the proposed reclamation site has been observed as having low diversity during my visit. Being at shallow water, the extent of solar radiation allows growth of sea grasses. Star fishes were also observed. Being shallow, the seabed is also under influence of wave action and warmer surface water, which are not favorable to establishment and growth of corals. Dredging during the reclamation would alter seabed topography leading to more variable depths and wider depth range, create more diversity in habitats, create higher niche diversity, recruit new organisms and result to higher species diversity.

On the second circumstance, my worries were addressed by the plan of Olide to tap the technology in island building similar to those employed in Dubai . This would involve dredging of seabed and the soils would be heaped up to form islands. Thus, big part of the site would remain under water and stay refuge sites for existing organisms. Organisms would perish on site during reclamation but being still connected by water to comparable sites, re-colonization or regeneration by currently existing organisms to dredged areas can happen in few years.

The third circumstance, we can consider the site to be not unique in the area. Aside from the shallow coastline around Panglao Island , there are also other wide patches of shallow waters and inter-tidal islands in the locality. These areas are most likely also inhabited by the same set of organisms that could be found in the proposed reclamation site. Thus, whatever diversity there could be in the reclamation site would remain preserved in the area, and such can then provide propagules for the regeneration of diversity in waterways that surround the reclamation. Three points shall be considered here. One, there several other sites over the area that offer same habitat types to ensure continued existence of same set of species that could be found in the proposed reclamation site. Two, after the reclamation the affected species would tend to re-invade suitable niches and recover the lost diversity. And three, the dredging operations would create new types of niche spaces, induce recruitment new set of species and may even result into enhancement of diversity. It is agreed among ecologists that moderate disturbance can enhance biodiversity, imagine planting an eggplant in the middle of a golf course where only one grass species is maintained. One can expect multitude of weed species to immediately emerge on the hill-up soil near the base of the eggplant. Grass on the golf course is maintained but additional species are added due to planting of an eggplant. Higher diversity it is.

Issue # 2: Reclamation will alter sea currents and flow of sea water, thus, it also affects marine life.

Dr. Quimio:

This concern is more realistic in the scale similar to the opening of the Panama Canal, which opened up exchange of water between the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific. The canal can cause repercussions when marine organisms from any of the two oceans meet. The proposed project is off-shore reclamation, and water would still flow even after the creation of the small islands. The effect to flow of sea water is expected to be only localized and unlikely to be regional in scale. On the regional scale, the size of area to be directly covered by reclamation is small to have significant effect to sea currents.

Issue # 3: Reclamation will be damaging to a fragile marine ecosystem already suffering from over-fishing and dumping of wastes to the sea.

Dr. Quimio:

Deeper water to be dredged as part of the reclamation can hasten water flow, faster flows can be an advantage in bringing the wastes to deeper waters where assimilative capacity of the ocean is higher. I suppose, proper waste management is incorporated in the development design of the Oasis project.

Issue # 4: The project’s economic benefits can not compensate for the environmental and social cost.

Dr. Quimio:

This is a generic concern thrown to most proposed major projects. But, we have legal procedures, the Environmental Statement System, to ensure this concern is studied objectively. We shall study what and how the existing environment would be affected and compare this to social costs and benefits. An Environmental Compliance Certificate shall be secured from the DENR before the proposed project can be implemented. This requires in-depth study on the potential impacts and how those can be effectively mitigated. Parts of the procedure are sectoral public hearings and consultations with direct and indirect stakeholders.

Issue # 5: Permits, licenses and the other government requirements such as those to beobtained from the DENR or the Philippine Reclamation Authority can be fixed by “under the table” pay-offs. Thus, there is no guarantee that these government agencies will truly protect the interest of the public and the environment but that of the investors.

Dr. Quimio:

By the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) Law, OLIDI would be required to conduct Environmental Impact Assessment, a requirement to secure Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) from the DENR. It is a legal procedure that would ensure that concerns of stakeholders will be addressed, the project is socially acceptable, and potential impacts would be effectively mitigated. Results of the public hearing, the terms of agreement with the people and other conditions agreed upon in negotiations would be documented in the EIA document. The EIA document would be an attachment to the ECC and this binds the project to implement the provisions in the EIA document.

It should be to the interest of the project investors that agreements with the people are faithfully respected and complied with. The worst thing that may happen is the closure of the project due to public clamor after having invested a lot already. Pay-offs to cut short the legal procedure is not even an alternative. The best is to pursue a development business not only for the investors but also for the mutual benefit of the surrounding communities. Anyway, the project would need a highly supportive populace in the area in order to entice investors and clients to their business.

Issue # 6: Will this project advantageous to the people of Panglao?

Dr. Quimio:

The project would not only be advantageous to the people of Panglao but would also give them a rare kind of a boasting right. It would be the only part in the Philippines where what has been done in Dubai , Hong Kong , Hawaii and in Holland was duplicated in terms of technology used in land building. It would boost local tourism industry, attract investments, infuse infrastructure development and support underground economy. The increased economic activity that would develop in the immediate vicinity would generate a diversity of economic ventures for the people of Panglao.

On the concern on climate change, I foresee no significant contribution to carbon dioxide emission that may be brought about by conversion of the shallow water into islands. Biodiversity can be even enhanced by creation of deeper parts through dredging. The current shallow waters are not amenable to the growth of corals. Because of the existence of many other patches of shallow waters in Panglao channel, the reclamation project in one of those patches can be considered a moderate disturbance. Thus, whatever biodiversity is existing in the target project site, that same can regenerate after the dredging operation while their same kind are kept effectively conserved in the other shallow areas.

About the author: Dr. Justino M. Quimio, PhD. is Dean and Ecology Professor of the College of Forestry and Natural Resources, Visayas State University (formerly VISCA) in Baybay City, Leyte. He is also a freelance consultant in Environmental Impact Assessment Projects.