SAN FERNANDO CITY, La Union — The Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Region 1 has entered into an agreement with the provincial government of La Union to secure a second Marine Protected Area Network in the province.
DENR-1 said that the deal is for the establishment of the Caba, Aringay, Bauang and San Fernando City municipalities or CArBaSan as a second MPAN.
DENR-1 regional executive director Atty. Crizaldy M. Barcelo, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Regional Field Office 1 regional director Rosario Segundina P. Gaerlan, PLGU executive assistant Justo Orros III with the local government units of San Fernando City represented by City Administrator Ramon Laudencia, Aringay Municipal Mayor Benjamin Sibuma, Municipal Mayor of Bauang Eulogio Clarence Martin de Guzman and Municipal Mayor of Caba Donna Crispino entered in to the agreement to establish the MPAN.
The formation of the MPAN is in accordance with DENR’s Department Administrative Order 2016- 26 or the Coastal Marine Ecosystems Management Program.
“The establishment of MPANs is a component of one of the national priority programs of the DENR under the CMEMP, more popularly known as the “Agos ng Buhay” with an aim to comprehensively manage, address and effectively reduce the drivers and threats of degradation of the coastal and marine ecosystems, in order to achieve and promote sustainability of ecosystems services, food security and climate change resiliency,” Barcelo said.
A marine protected area is a section of the ocean where a government has placed limits on human activity. MPA’s have been established because the ocean and the things that live in it face many dangers. Threats to the ocean include overfishing, litter, water pollution and global climate change.
In La Union, the MPAN are established as an upshot of effective partnership between LGUs with interlinked marine and coastal resources needed to be protected.
The MoA signed by the PLGU, San Fernando City, Bauang, Caba and Aringay is a solid manifestation of their unified intentions to protect and conserve the coastal ecosystems.
The CArBaSan MPAN will also serve as the link for the Agoo-Damortis Protected Landscape which includes the coastal areas of Agoo, Sto. Tomas and Rosario, La Union.
The CArBaSan MPAN will be the second MPAN in the province after the first ever MPAN in Region 1 which is the BalBaSan MPAN constituting the marine protected areas of Balaoan, Bacnotan and San Juan.