Text & photo by Maricar Reyes-Hina

Governor Enrique T. Garcia was generally pleased to greet Mr. Ivan Zavadsky, Senior Water Resources Management Specialist of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) when the latter paid him a courtesy call on 19 June 2008 during his visit here in the Province of Bataan.

The GEF is a funding mechanism that allocates financial assistance to the Partnerships for Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia or PEMSEA for the past ten (10) years. PEMSEA is the technical partner of the Bataan Integrated Coastal Management Program (BICMP).

Mr. Zavadsky expressed keen interest to visit Bataan to learn and appreciate the on-the-ground experiences of the province in implementing the integrated coastal management (ICM) program.

Engr. Alexander Baluyot, Officer-in-Charge of the Project Management Office, the working arm of Bataan ICM program, gave a presentation on some highlights of our accomplishments, as well as, our on-going and future projects.

Gov. Garcia shared his plan on purchasing a helicopter that will help curb illegal fishing and illegal logging. Mr. Zavadsky commended the governor’s initiative, saying that his leadership is what GEF is looking for to sustain the various efforts of our stakeholders in environmental protection, preservation and management. Mr. Zavadsky added that he is very happy and impressed with how much BICMP has accomplished considering that Bataan is a PEMSEA parallel site and not a demonstration site.

A PEMSEA parallel site implements the ICM based on a public-private partnership. The financial aspect is provided through a 50-50 sharing from the private sector and the public sector to fund ICM projects. While a demonstration site gets its funding from the GEF through PEMSEA, like the Manila Bay Environmental Management Project and the Batangas ICM project.