UNICOAST – Uniting for Sustainable Coasts – Unico Conservation Foundation

Philippines

Date: February 2023

Progress: Complete

Uniting Cebu coasts through coastal resource adaptive participatory approaches for full marine ecosystem representation and wise management of coastal and marine environments in southeast and southwest Cebu coasts.

The Project

The Visayan region of the Philippines contains high marine biodiversity and productive fisheries that provide a significant amount of food security to coastal communities and also generate substantial revenue from the long standing and growing marine tourism industry. This resource base is critical to maintain for the well-being of people in the area and to ensure sustainability of resource use and benefits into the future.

In light of threats from unsustainable development in some areas, overfishing and climate change, CCEF continues to adapt its programs to mitigate threats and engage people in the protection and management of their coastal areas and resources. It also plans to accelerate its efforts to build coastal stewards for assessment, monitoring and managing coastal resources from an ecosystem approach.

The Our Ocean address the above issues through implementing various strategies which strengthened coastal resource management practices in the Southeast Cebu Coastal Municipalities (Argao, Dalaguete, Alcoy, Boljoon, Oslob, and Samboan) with the multi-sectoral support in the community, particularly UCF.

A copy of the final report can be reviewed here:

The Results

19 project activities
541 direct beneficiaries
12 project partners
10 project sites.
Biophysical Assessments of MPA’s in Municipalities of Badian and Dumanjug
Regional MAO Conference
MPA Plan Review and MPA MEAT Orientation for the 10 MPAs in Argao
Data Collection of the ten (10) Marine Protected Area of Argao for the Integrated Coastal Resource Management Plan (ICRMP)
Development of Marine Protected Area (MPA) Management Plans for the 10 Coastal Barangays of Argao Municipality
International Coastal Cleanup/World Cleanup Day with Booth and Partners
SEAklab Coastal Youth Camp 2023, a three-day initiative aimed at fostering the development of a new cohort of informed, motivated, and capable young leaders, future environmental stewards, and potential policy makers.

The Organisation

Coastal Conservation and Education Foundation, Inc.

CCEF is a non-stock and non-profit organisation dedicated to the management and sustainable use of Philippine coastal resources through active leadership and participation of coastal communities and stakeholders. Driven by its passion to create sustainable coasts and actively engage communities, CCEF develops and disseminate tools, techniques and research for better marine management, while promoting integrated coastal management approach that includes marine protected areas (MPAs) localised law enforcement and other participatory best practices.

Find out more info here: https://www.coast.ph/