Cost of China damage to PH reefs: P33B a year
A Forbes article last June 2016 estimated the debt of China from sea rent, damages, intruding, harassing and destroying the Philippines’ among other countries’ reefs. It accounted to more than $177 billion.
A Forbes article last June 2016 estimated the debt of China from sea rent, damages, intruding, harassing and destroying the Philippines’ among other countries’ reefs. It accounted to more than $177 billion.
In 2019, the Philippines is still losing about P33.1 billion per year from the damaged reef due to China’s illegal fishing and reclamation activities at Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal and the Spratly Islands, according to Filipino scientists and marine specialist.
According to Deo Florence Onda, University of the Philippines’ Marine Science Institute (UP MSI) scientist, the P33 billion figure was still a “conservative estimate” considering the complex marine biodiversity of the Philippines.
“The value includes all the services that we get from the coral reefs like climate regulation and the benefits we get from the ecosystem,” Onda said at a forum organized by conservation group Oceana Philippines.
Using the baseline value of $353,429 (P18 million) per hectare per year for coral reefs that was arrived at, in a study by a Dutch information and analytics company. Satellite images showed the damaged reef ecosystems at Panatag which covered 550 hectares and 1,300 hectares in the Spratlys group of Islands.
Despite winning the international arbitrary to the West Philippine Sea, the Philippines still loses to the big power that China is.
References:
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1137560/busy-manila-roads-still-vendor-free
https://www.philstar.com/nation/2019/07/03/1931660/vico-sotto-pasig-mayors-office-stripped-computers
https://globalnation.inquirer.net/177462/cost-of-china-damage-to-ph-reefs-p33b-a-year
https://www.rappler.com/world/regions/asia-pacific/139392-timeline-west-philippine-sea-dispute