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Publication year : 0
Thematic : TEEB
Language : English
Note
The fisheries sector is one of the drivers of growth for the Philippine economy. The coastal and fishery resources are major sources of income and employment to over one million Filipino people comprising 5% of the total labor force (Department of Agriculture as cited in Francisco and de los Angeles, 2003). However, the coastal and fishery resources are under serious threat from pollution generated by human economic activities.
Particularly, due to oil spill incidents the coastal areas of Semirara and Guimaras Islands were contaminated with enormous volume of spilled bunker oil, damaging mangroves, seagrasses, coral reefs, shellfishes, and other marine life consequently harmed the economic and social well-being of the residents living in these islands especially those who were dependent on fishery resources.
Last December 18, 2005, 200,000 liters of bunker fuel spilled along the seashore of Semirara Island, Caluya, Antique when the fuel tanks 3 and 4 of the National Power Corporation (NPC) Barge 106 ruptured when it encountered battering waves while en route from Masbate to San Jose, Occidental Mindoro due to the tropical depression, “Quedan†which passed thru the Visayas region (DENR Report, 2006). On the other hand, M/T Solar I, a tanker carrying 2.1 million liters of industrial fuel oil (bunker fuel) sunk approximately 12 miles off the coast of Guimaras Island on August 11, 2006 (Gov. Nava, 2006).
This study involved the valuation of the direct use value of environmental damages due to oil spill in the affected communities in Semirara and Guimaras Islands in the Visayas region. Direct use value is the resource’s value to those who actually use or consume the resource directly (Munasinghe and Lutz, White and Cruz-Trinidad, 1998 as cited in Lizada, et. al., 2006). It is also referred to as consumptive value which is derived from the economic uses of the natural system’s resources and services. Direct use value represents “goodsâ€. In retrospect, the total economic value (TEV) of natural resources and environmental assets consists of use value (direct and indirect) and non-use value (Munasinghe and Lutz, 1993; White and Cruz-Trinidad, 1998 as cited in Lizada, et.al., 2006).
Field surveys were conducted to generate data on socio-economic profile as well as before and after the oil spill income from livelihood activities and recreational benefits of the affected households on March 5 – 13, 2006 and October 6 – 28, 2006 in Semirara Island and Guimaras Island, respectively.
In Semirara Island a total enumeration of 184 households was employed while in Guimaras Island a stratified random sampling with sample size of 615 was used.
The estimated direct use value of environmental damages due to oil spill in Semirara Island ranged from P12,035,469 at 20% wage rate to P12,232,843 at full wage rate considering 184 households. In Guimaras Island the estimated value given 615 samples or about 4% of the population, ranged from P42,903,268 at 20% wage rate to P44,650,889 at full wage rate. With 13,917 households directly affected, the indicative direct use value of the environmental damages due to oil spill in Guimaras ranged from about P970 million to P1 billion. These amounts comprised the foregone income from the livelihood activities and recreational benefits of residents of the aforementioned islands.
The study revealed that the oil spill greatly affected the economic and recreation activities of the residents in Semirara and Guimaras Islands. Looking into the bearing of oil spill into people’s livelihoods, this study underscores the importance of the integrity of coastal resources on the livelihoods of the residents. It is vital that economic activities should be anchored on the sustainability of such resources.
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Keywords : remote sensing
Encoded by : Pauline Carmel Joy Eje
