Greenpeace apologizes for damaging Philippine reef

Nov 4, 2005, 13:35 GMT

Manila - The environmental group Greenpeace on Friday apologized for damaging coral reefs in a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the western Philippines during an expedition to the protected area.

The group's flagship, the Rainbow Warrior, slammed into a reef Monday at the Tubbataha Reef Marine Park off Palawan province, 600 kilometres southwest of Manila.

The impact destroyed 96 square metres of corals, and Greenpeace was fined 6,857 dollars for the damage.

Von Hernandez, Southeast Asia campaign manager for Greenpeace, said the incident was 'regrettable' and the group 'has taken responsibility for the accident'.

'We apologize that this thing has happened,' he said. 'We have paid the corresponding cost, and we hope that we have set a good example for other organizations in an incident such as this.'

'We are only human after all,' he added.

Red Constantino, Greenpeace climate and energy campaigner, reiterated that the accident occurred because a marine chart used by the ship to navigate the Sulu Sea off Palawan was inaccurate.

'We were already anchored for the expedition when the currents changed and we hit the reef,' he said. 'Based on the map, the reef formation was still three kilometres away.'

Constantino said the accident was a 'hiccup' to Greenpeace's campaign to urge Southeast Asian countries to shift to renewable energy sources to stop climate change.

In a report released Friday, Greenpeace warned that climate change was threatening agriculture and food security in the Philippines and other Southeast Asian countries.

It warned that worsening climate change would result in more severe increases in temperatures and sea levels as well as extreme climate events, such as typhoons.

The report noted that 'the sharpest falls in agricultural production are experienced during strong El Nino events and after occurrence of severe tropical cyclones'.

Greenpeace urged the Philippines to increase its use of such clean energy resources as the sun, wind and biomass in the country's energy mix to 10 per cent by 2010.

It lamented that while the Philippines has vast potential for harnessing renewable energy, it currently gets less than 0.2 per cent of its energy from the sun, wind and biomass.

From the Philippines, Greenpeace's 'Asia Energy Revolution Tour' will proceed to Thailand in the middle of November. It earlier visited Australia and China.