On this year’s International Coastal Clean-Up Day (ICCD), Earth Island Institute Asia-Pacific joins environmental groups, community leaders, youth, and fishing communities in Navotas to highlight that we have to do more alongside clean up drives.
While removing trash from our shorelines is important, the greater challenge lies in addressing the deeper systemic issues that threaten both ecosystems and communities, from rampant corruption in flood control projects, to destructive reclamation, plastic pollution, and the escalating impacts of climate change.
For decades, billions of pesos have been spent on flood control projects, many of which have been tainted with corruption and inefficiency. Despite these massive investments, communities remain submerged in floods and stripped of their natural defenses. Instead of pouring resources into projects that benefit a few and fail the many, the government should focus on community-led and nature-based solutions. Restoring mangroves, wetlands, and river ecosystems is not only cost-effective but also builds lasting protection for communities and livelihoods.
Large-scale reclamation projects across Manila Bay and other coastal areas continue to destroy habitats, displace fishing communities, and worsen floods. These projects are presented as development, but in reality they jeopardize food security, ecosystems, and climate resilience. We cannot build a sustainable future by destroying our coasts.
Plastic pollution also remains a serious threat. Single-use plastics dominate the waste collected during coastal clean-ups, yet policies addressing this problem remain weak and poorly enforced. We call on the government to pass a strong national ban on single-use plastics and to fully implement RA 11898 or the Extended Producers Responsibility (EPR) Act. Corporations must be held accountable for retrieving and reducing the plastic waste they produce, rather than passing the burden to communities.
The worsening climate crisis adds to these challenges. Rising sea levels, stronger storms, and unpredictable weather patterns hit coastal communities hardest. Real resilience means ensuring that people and ecosystems can recover after disasters strike. This will never be achieved through corruption-driven infrastructure projects or destructive development projects.
But there is a better way forward. Instead of depending on billion-peso flood control projects that fail our people, the government should collaborate with civil society, scientists, fishermen, and local communities to adopt nature-based solutions. Mangrove restoration, wetlands protection, and marine ecosystem conservation are all cost-effective, long-term solutions that have been shown to increase climate resilience. These efforts not only protect the environment, but also support communities.
Now, more than ever, the ICCD event is not just about a day to pick up trash. It is a call to action to demand systemic change, defend coastal communities’ right to livelihood, and fight for climate resilience and environmental justice.
We strongly urge the Marcos administration to end corruption-driven flood control projects and a shift to transparent, community-led, and nature-based solutions. Enact national ban on single-use plastics, strict enforcement of the EPR law. Finally, we urge everyone to join our fishermen and coastal communities in protecting our seas, coasts, and future.
The fight against corruption, plastic pollution, reclamation, and climate inaction is a fight for our future. It is time to stand together, demand transparency, and protect both our people and our planet.
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