Philippines

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The Philippine CTI-CFF National Coordinating Committee was established in 2009 to provide guidance for the overall implementation of the Philippine CTI-CFF National Plan of Action (NPOA) and to serve as the country focal point for the implementation of the CTI-CFF Regional Plan of Action. The NCC is led by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources under the Department of Agriculture. Its members include representatives from the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Department of Finance, the National Economic and Development Authority, the League of Municipalities of the Philippines, non-government organizations, academic institutions and the business sector.

The NPOA mirrors the goals and targets for the CTI-CFF Regional Plan of Action and has six cross cutting themes that aims to ensure that its implementation is consistent with the integrated coastal management framework which is already being applied in the country. These themes include research requirements, enabling policy, planning based on best practices and lessons learned, capacity building, enforcement of environmental laws and information and education campaigns.

Since its inception, the NCC has led multi-stakeholder processes in the formulation and implementation of CTI-CFF regional and national activities. At the regional level, it hosted the first ever CTI-CFF Regional Business Summit in January 2010 and several regional exchanges such as the CTI Regional Exchange on Enhancing Local Government and Stakeholder Capacity for Ecosystem-based Fisheries Management in June 2009 and the CTI-CFF Regional Exchange and Workshop on Monitoring and Evaluation for Improved Marine Protected Area Management Effectiveness in the Coral Triangle Countries in May 2011. At the national level, the NCC led the adoption of the standardized Management Effectiveness Assessment Tool, a system widely used across the country to benchmark the effectiveness of marine protected area management and in the future will show a comprehensive picture of Philippine ocean waters that are effectively managed. It also led the development of a national plan of action for illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and pushed for the local regulation of live reef fish trade. It has also led the conduct of climate change vulnerability assessments in key marine biodiversity sites in the country.