The Philippine President, Manila (AFP) - Southeast Asian countries must act now to protect the biodiversity of the region from those who wish to plunder its resources for a quick profit, said Monday.
An example of the threat, President Benigno Aquino cited the discovery of this month of a huge cargo of corals illegally harvested and preserved marine turtles, seized at the port of Manila, until they could be smuggled abroad.
"This single act of environmental pillage is only symptomatic of a wider problem," Aquino said at an event for the launch of the Decade of the United Nations on biodiversity.
"Our region is about to lose a significant number of species endangered due to several cases of deforestation, hunting for wild animals, climate change, pollution and population growth," said the President.
Aquino, said the region's biodiversity should be considered as a competitive advantage that can be exploited in a sustainable manner.
"Unfortunately, there are those who still think that the environment is nothing more that a way to make a quick, and easy profit without regard for consequences in the long term," he said.
Although the countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) occupy only three per cent of the surface of the planet, the region is home more than 18 per cent of all the known plant and animal species, which in fact that of the world richest and most diverse, said Aquino.
Anger has increased on the plundering of the Philippine environment from 124 000 pieces of sea fan corals and sea whip unlawfully harvested and 158 sea turtles plush were found at the port on 11 May.
The amount of recovered coral could mean that an area ranging from 7 to 21 000 hectares (17,290 51,870 acres) of the ocean floor had been looted, officials of the Bureau of fisheries and aquatic resources, said.
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