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Living here in the Philippines has been a great experience, along with the wife we moved here from the UK about 3 years ago. Koz my wife is a diving instructor and I help with the day to day activities around the dive centre, generally maintenance, I also am a keen underwater photographer. Prior to living here we would come each year for a couple of months, our primary reason to dive in one of the worlds most diverse marine environments, the "Coral Triangle". This is a body or ocean covering the Philippines , Malaysia, Indonesia and Papua new Guinea, with a few smaller islands chains also included.
THE CORAL TRIANGLE.
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This is a relatively small area with the most biodiversity on the planet, it accounts for 1.6% of the worlds oceans but sustains 76% of corals 6000 plus species of fish and 6 of the 7 sea turtle species. Add to this the largest area of Mangrove forest on the planet, which is a breeding ground for numerous fish and sharks we can begin to see its importance. It is estimated over the next 80 years most of this could be gone, that's a scary thought. Population growth, over fishing and coastal development are some of the main factors along with climate change leading to mass coral bleaching which has led to enormous areas of reefs being lost. The balance is shifting in the wrong direction, the question is how can we reverse this. So what can we do? we can join campaign groups like; ://support.wwf.org.uk/ or any of these; https://dipndive.com/ but also on a more personal level we can be more thoughtful about how we engage with the planet. There are things we can do to not add to the problem and this is a lengthy subject but a easy one is changing the way we consume with the view to reduce waste mainly plastics which are a major contributor to ocean waste. For me this is something we can easily act on today with very little effect on how we live. Ocean debris is a big issue for me, as a diver who spends a large amount of time in the water it is a visible menace that annoys and saddens me every time I see it and unfortunately living in my part of the world unavoidable. This brings me to the main reason for this post, here in the Philippines the sea is regarded a source of income and a nation that didn't grow up on nature documentaries has yet to appreciate what a beautiful resource it has, slowly through education and engagement we are seeing a younger generation starting to understand that their future is at risk. This said there is a long way to go as the philippines sits at number 3 on the world table of ocean polluters.
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