SEAHORSE in Philippines // Philippines

The Philippines is the world’s centre of coral reef biodiversity. It contains the third most extensive reef system in the world and is home to nearly 500 hard coral species. Coral, seagrass, and mangroves form the core structure of the marine ecosystem, supporting thousands of fish and invertebrates, many of which are unique to the Philippines. These coastal habitats also support the livelihoods of many people within coastal communities through fishing. This industry provides half of the animal protein consumed in the Philippines and is vital for the economic stability of these coastal communities. This remarkable area is in crisis due to over-exploitation, sedimentation from land-use change, pollution and climate change. Conservation International estimates that only 5% of the coral reefs in the Philippines are still pristine.
Many communities have worked to counteract overfishing by establishing marine protected areas (MPAs). It is not known how quickly habitat improves in these protected areas or what areas have shown the greatest amount of habitat recovery. Information on habitat recovery is important for future MPA development and to determine whether these management interventions will help to increase resilience to climate change.
We plan to use a time series of satellite images to map changes in the distribution of four ecologically important shallow water marine habitats (corals, mangroves, seagrass, and macro-algae) over the last 20 years, and to see how and where climate change, destructive fishing, seaweed farming and other coastal activities (e.g. fishpond development and logging in mangrove areas) have impacted these habitats.