ORIENTAL MINDORO, Philippines — Researchers from the University of the Philippines Los Baños Interdisciplinary Studies Center for Integrated Natural Resource and Environment Management (UPLB-INREM) conducted fieldwork in Calapan City and the municipalities of Pola and Gloria, Oriental Mindoro on 13-22 August, to assess the damage caused by the 800,000 liter oil spill from MV Princess Empress which sank off the province’s coast.
“The damage valuation of ecosystem services at the oil-spill impacted areas in Oriental Mindoro will contribute to developing a framework for natural capital accounting of coastal and marine ecosystems in the West Philippine Sea.” The framework will also serve as basis for environmental damage claims in West Philippine Sea.
The researchers, Dr. Asa Jose Sajise, Dannica Rose Aquino, Grace Anne Malolos, Karen Pajadan, and Pauline Cielo Palma, conducted focus group discussions with LGU representatives and fisherfolk and key informant interviews with coastal barangay residents, and trained enumerators for the household survey.
The “Natural Capital Accounting of Coastal and Marine Ecosystems in the West Philippine Sea” is a project under the 3-year program, Resource Inventory, Valuation and Policy in Ecosystem Services under Threat (RE-INVEST)-The Case of the West Philippine Sea, which is supported by the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology.
Reference
Palma, P. C. and Sevilla, F. (2023, September 14). UPLB-INREM deploys researchers to oil spill-stricken areas in Oriental Mindoro. https://uplb.edu.ph/all-news/uplb-inrem-deploys-researchers-to-oil-spill-stricken-areas-in-oriental-mindoro/