Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 7) — The National Museum of Natural History launched on Monday an exhibit featuring stunning photos of the Verde Island Passage (VIP) in one of the latest moves to protect the critical biodiversity within the marine corridor.
“Our VIP: Protecting a Paradise in Peril” showcased various photographs of marine life as well as natural and man-made threats faced by the maritime area — an attempt to raise awareness of the VIP’s role in sustaining food security and abating climate change, the museum said.
“With the challenges facing the integrity of the VIP, we hope this exhibition not only increases public consciousness…but we also look forward to heighten the call to legally protect the VIP,” said Jorell Legaspi, deputy director general of the National Museum of the Philippines.
Along with the exhibit is an online petition urging the Philippine government to make the VIP a protected area under the Expanded National Integrated Protected Areas System Act (ENIPAS). A QR code directing to the petition is part of the exhibit’s panels.
Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development (CEED), which organized the photo show, and its partner group Protect VIP set this up to afford the “ecological treasure” the “greatest possible protection by law.”
Currently, there is no mandated authority to regulate and define allowable activities in the “busy area,” said Alita Sangalang, senior ecosystems management specialist of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ (DENR) Biodiversity Management Bureau.
RELATED: DENR, five provinces want Verde Island Passage declared as ‘protected area’
Sangalang said the bureau is set to consolidate within November regional reports of area suitability assessment to establish the VIP as a protected area.
The VIP, which is part of the Coral Triangle, is home to over 1,700 fish species, more than 300 coral species, and thousands of other marine organisms, according to the Protect VIP coalition.
The DENR said the VIP, a priority conservation area, provides livelihood and other benefits to over two million people. The marine corridor is surrounded by Batangas, Oriental Mindoro, Occidental Mindoro, Romblon, and Marinduque.
More awareness-raising efforts needed
Renowned underwater photographer Scott Gutsy Tuason, one of the artists featured in the exhibit, urged schools, big companies, and groups of people to maximize the three-month run of “Our VIP: Protecting a Paradise in Peril.”
“They can see the good and the bad and the ugly because you’ve got environment photos of things that are not so nice, pretty photos,” Tuason told CNN Philippines. “It’s an encompassing sort of exhibit for people to immerse themselves in the Verde Island Passage.”
’18’: ‘image’: ‘jcr:aa292a0b-bd86-4947-95e2-f3220a6dc45c’ ‘imageCaption’: ‘Renowned underwater photographer Scott Gutsy Tuason at the
The photo display leads viewers to the wonders of the VIP — declared as the “center of the center of marine shorefish biodiversity” — the communities benefiting from the marine area’s resources, but also the threats it faces from pollution, oil spills, and risky development projects, among other things.
“Kadalasan, pag pinag-uusapan natin ang karagatan naha-highlight parati ‘yong kagandahan, ‘yong pambirang buhay na nakikita diyan,” Filipino photographer Danny Ocampo told CNN Philippines.
“Pero minsan kailangan ipakita ‘yong threats din otherwise people will not understand na maraming kailangang gawin para proteksyunan ‘yong magagandang organisms na ‘to,” he added.
[Translation: Often, discussions on oceans highlight the beauty and the life within but sometimes we need to show the threats they face, otherwise people will not understand that there should be actions to protect these beautiful organisms.]
Miguel Azcuna, assistant professor at the Batangas State University, said the exhibit comes after the VIP was named a “hope spot” by global coalition Mission Blue, which signaled a “huge information campaign” about the waterway.
According to Azcuna, many people in Batangas are not aware of the VIP and its biodiversity — something that CEED also wants to address as advocates ramp up efforts for the VIP, its executive director Gerry Arances said.
“Iikot namin itong exhibit na ‘to in many places including, una sa lahat ‘yong mga bayan na nakapalibot sa VIP,” Arances told CNN Philippines. “Kung meron man magpo-protect sa VIP sila ‘yong pinakauna mo dapat pukawin at i-raise yong awareness.”
[Translation: We will bring the exhibit to many places, including provinces surrounding the VIP. If there are people who would be protecting the VIP, locals from those provinces should be the first to be engaged.]
“Definitely, the exhibit will continue until next year and even beyond,” he added.
