MANILA, Philippines — The Coral Triangle is an expanse of sea in the southern end of the Pacific Ocean covering almost 1.6-billion acres.

According to the World Wildlife Fund, the Coral Triangle teems with 3,000 species of fish and “nearly 500 reef-building coral species – an amazing 75 percent of all known coral species.”

The Philippines makes up the northern tip of the triangle, which also encompasses Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste.

The marine diversity in the Philippines is so abundantly rich that an estimated 500 of the 800 known coral species are found here, notes Dr. Teresita Mundita Lim of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

With a total of 26,000 kilometers of coral reef coverage, Lim says that the economic benefits from this natural bounty have been estimated at $3.5 billion.

The 1,210 kilometers of coastal ecosystem that comprise the "Bohol Triangle" alone provides an estimated annual revenue of $3.4 million, with fisheries making up 40 percent, pointed out United Nations Environment Program coral reef unit head Jerker Tamelander during a media briefing at the sidelines of the just concluded five-day Global Conference on Land-Ocean Connections (GLOC) which Manila hosted.

The briefing was designed as a training session for journalists conducted by marine experts to explore the key issues being addressed at the conference and the role of oceans and coasts in a low-carbon, resource efficient Green Economy--a central focus of the UN's Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development to be held in Brazil in June.

According to Tamelander, tourism accounts for close to half of the total revenue provided by Bohol’s coastal resources which is pegged at $1.5 million annually.

However, Lim sees a decline in the growth of these ecosystems starting in the 1980s.

"These are the signs of the times," she said.

Over the past decade, scientists have produced a series of alarming reports on emerging threats to marine and coastal ecosystems and the wellbeing of billions of people living near the oceans around the world.

The world's marine ecosystem is being compromised, not only by climate change, but also by increased urbanization and tourism, over-exploitation of natural resources, and the increase in marine pollution loads from maritime and land-based activities, said UNEP Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land Based Activities (GPA) coordinator Vincent Sweeney.

Land-based sources of pollution, Sweeney explained, are essentially those substances introduced into the marine environment which do not belong there and can have negative impacts on the marine environment

This includes sewage, nutrients, marine litter, and the physical alteration and destruction of habitats.

In developing countries in South East Asia, up to 90 percent of all wastewater is discharged untreated directly into rivers, lakes or the oceans.

"Direct discharge of wastewater into surface and groundwater systems with little or no treatment is one of the most serious threats to water resources," Sweeney said during the interactive briefing session.

The unabated dumping of persistent organic pollutants, radioactive substances, heavy metals, oils, and sediments are also threatening the integrity of the world's coasts.

Today, an estimated 245,000 kilometers of marine ecosystems are affected with impacts on fisheries, livelihoods and the food chain.

Worse, at least 1.8 million children under five years old die every year, or 1 in every 20 seconds, from water-related diseases.

Fish kill due to hypoxia has also been recorded in various parts of the country particularly in Taal Lake. Also known as oxygen depletion, this is a phenomenon that occurs in aquatic environments as dissolved oxygen becomes reduced in concentration to a point where it becomes detrimental to aquatic life.

Currently, only 4 percent of the country’s coral reefs are in excellent condition, a fifth has been permanently lost while 60 percent is under immediate direct threat.

And as oceans get warmer, climate change further aggravates the situation resulting to the bleaching of corals in the South China Sea.

"Coast and seas suffered degradation wrought by over half a century of destructive practices," Lim said during her presentation of the coastal and marine resources conservation and management in the Philippines.

Restoration and rehabilitation of coral reefs are ongoing in the country, mostly initiated by the private sector through the construction of artificial reefs, continue, but the economic effect is overwhelming.

Lim said the cost of biological reef restoration in the Philippines ranges from $200 to $13,000.

On the other hand, the annual value of erosion prevention by coral reefs and mangrove, including shoreline protection, has been estimated at $326 million.

While adoption of Executive Order 533 created an integrated coastal management as a national strategy in the Philippines to ensure sustainable development of the coastal and marine environment and resources, a lot more needs to be done.

UNEP's Jackie Alder pointed out in her presentation that an estimated 180 million people, many of whom are landless, are employed directly or indirectly in fisheries.

However, because 32 percent of the world's marine stocks are either over-exploited, depleted or recovering, their future is shaky.

Even aquaculture, also known as aquafarming, can not be counted on as a sure solution to overfishing. Although the reported output from global aquaculture operations would supply one half of the fish and shellfish that is directly consumed by humans, there are issues about the reliability of the reported figures.

In response to international calls for better management of oceans and coasts, the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) organized the Global Conference on Land-Ocean Connections and the Environmental Review of the Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment (GPA).

According to DENR Secretary Ramon Paje, UNEP offered the hosting of the Global Conference on Land-Ocean Connections to Manila in March 2011.

"We accepted the offer because it provides us a good opportunity to showcase our accomplishments, efforts and successes in protecting our environment, particularly our marine and coastal resources," said Paje.

An estimated 200 foreign delegates, including 40 environmental ministers from around the world participated in the conference, from January 23 to 27, to discuss how land-based activities affect the marine and coastal environment.

In his speech during the opening of the conference, Ibrahim Thiaw, director of UNEP's Division of Environmental Policy Implementation, emphasized that issues associated with the management of marine resources and coastal areas are fundamental to the development of many nations in the world.

Thiaw pointed out that the damage caused by human activities, whether it is from habitat destruction, pollution or increased exposure to natural disasters due to the conversion of coastal habitats attract great political and public concern.

"This is a response to the simple fact that 99 percent of all life in the planet is found in the oceans, 70 percent of the mega-cities are coastal and 38 percent of the global population lives along the narrow fringe of coastal land which constitutes only 7.6 percent of the Earth's total land area," he said. "Hundreds of millions more people who do not live on the coast still use it for recreation or depend on the resources and the environmental services that coasts produce."

"Given this perspective, we need to rethink and review our approach to management of coastal and marine issues, realign our strategies and partnership, and redirect our efforts towards a new set of goals," Thiaw said.

This implies that the world needs to define new actions to ensure environmental sustainability, which recognizes the most important links between poverty, the environment and sustainable development.

"The damage caused by land-based activities to coastal and marine resources matters," he said. "But society's response is usually reactive and after the event, often when it is too late. And the attention span is too often short-lived to see long-term recovery."

Thiaw pointed said one key challenge is to strengthen the science-policy links, so that the decisions of concerned agencies can be guided by the best possible understanding of the problems the world is facing and the solutions available.

"We need to understand the interaction between species, habitats and human beings, and to define integrated approaches and strategies to deal with the multiple uses of natural resources and their biological diversity," he said.

At the conclusion of the conference, delegates from 65 countries adopted the Manila Declaration in which member parties recommitted themselves to the implementation of the GPA as a tool for the sustainable development of oceans, coasts and islands and for human well-being, particularly for the period 2012-2016.

Signatories to the declaration reaffirmed their commitment to developing policies to reduce and control wastewater, marine litter and pollution from fertilizers.

The agreement contains 16 provisions focusing on actions to be taken between this year and 2016 at international, regional and local levels.

Among them is a call for countries to develop guidance and policies on the sustainable use of nutrients to improve the efficiency of fertilizers such as nitrogen and phosphorous. Doing so would bring economic benefits for farmers, while mitigating negative environmental impacts such as algal blooms caused by agricultural run-off.

“The Manila Declaration signals a new way forward for all of us,” said Amina Mohamed, UNEP Deputy Executive-Director, who led the agency's delegation at the meeting.

“The UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) in June is an excellent opportunity to take the Manila Declaration to a global audience and initiate action to reduce the impact of land-based activities on the marine environment,” she said.

“It is essential that we sustain our momentum to achieve on-the-ground improvements in the health of ocean and coastal ecosystems, for which the continued and coordinated effort of the international community is vital,” said Mohamed.