Environmental groups in Antique protest urea dumping
Environmental groups in Antique have raised alarm over the dumping of urea in the waters of Anini-y town in the province as part of an experiment of an Australian firm to mitigate the effects of climate change.
Jay Pefianco, a convenor of the environmental group United Antiqueños, said they are confirming reports of Greenpeace and WWF that a ton of urea was dumped off the coasts of Anini-y sometime last month.
Pefianco said the municipal government of Anini-y has no knowledge of the dumping.
Antique Gov. Salvacion Zaldivar-Perez also said she is unaware of the reported dumping but said that she said she will investigate the report.
The "ocean nourishment" project of the Sydney-based Ocean Nourishment Corp. (ONC) involves the dumping of 500 tons of urea granules in the Sulu and Celebes seas. This is aimed to stimulate the growth of phytoplankton, which would eventually remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
But environmental groups have raised concerns of the risks of an experiment on the already depleted and damaged marine resources of the country.
"If the experiment goes wrong, it could seriously damage or destroy marine life and wreck havoc on the livelihood of thousands of residents," Pefianco said in a telephone interview.
Pefianco said they will hold protest actions to oppose the planned dumping and to push government agencies to stop the experiment.
The Iloilo-based University of the Philippines in the Visayas through its College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences reportedly endorsed the project to government agencies but this was denied by the UPV.
"UP Visayas will not compromise its mandate by engaging in any undertaking that will be detrimental to people and their environment. UPV is not involved in any activity related to ocean nourishment and has not officially endorsed any proposal made by any entity, whether organization or individual(s), to conduct a "carbon sequestration project" by dumping 500 tonnes of urea in Philippine waters, specifically the north-eastern portion of the Sulu Sea near the province of Antique in Panay Island," UPV said in a statement issued by its information and publication office dated Nov. 9.
It said the project "could pose a threat to the marine environment, the main source of survival and livelihood for poor fisher folk in the Philippines."
UPV said its shares the concerns raised by civil society groups and said it is supporting calls to make a thorough assessment of the social, economic, and environmental impacts of projects such as the one on ocean nourishment.