Through this GEF project, the GEF would support the implementation of the CWA, and the
Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan. The Plan gives due prominence to the protection of
watersheds and coastal zones through integrated watershed and coastal area management, as well
as the attainment of the country’s Millennium Development Goals. The GEF with its aim of
removing barriers to pollution reduction, therefore fits within, and will help promote, the national
plans.
As a member of the ASEAN, the country has committed to reach by 2010, the ASEAN
Harmonized Environmental Quality Standards2 for river water quality, with the highest priority
to be accorded to urban and industrial pollutants. The marine water quality criteria for the
ASEAN region that sets parameters and values for the protection of aquatic and human life is
similarly recognized by the Philippines. The GEF project, with the aim of reducing land-based
marine pollution, therefore also supports these standards.
Finally, the country is one of the coastal states3 in the East Asian region to have signed the
Putrajaya Declaration of Regional Cooperation for the Sustainable Development of the Seas of
East Asia (2003), thereby committing to regional cooperation in addressing transboundary issues
of common concern, which include land-based pollution. The Manila Bay is a pollution hotspot
in the South China Sea, and the GEF project would promote innovative best practice in pollution
reduction, and the dissemination of lessons learned, through the Partnerships in Environmental
Management for the Seas of East Asia (PEMSEA).