Footprints Project

A total of
3899
Travelers
donated
$22904.26
(112% funded)
to help improve
Environment
impacting
100
people
in
Philippines

Project background

Coral reefs could be gone in our lifetime – if they go, the protection, health, and well-being of people and our planet will be affected to a point of no return: coral reefs are home to more than 25% of all marine life and vital carbon sinks supplying rain water, drinking water, and oxygen.

They are also a valuable source of livelihoods and local economic growth, food security, safer, and more protective coastlines, good wellbeing and mental health and life-saving medicines.

Puerto Galera in the Philippines is a busy marine tourism destination with over 60 marine tourism businesses offering services in a relatively small area. Designated a UNESCO biosphere reserve in 1977 it’s famous for its marine life and coral reefs.

While marine tourism in this location offers many benefits to the local economy, if unmanaged the activities also threaten to degrade the health of the environment upon which it’s built. Preventable irresponsible tourism practices (such as improper anchoring or kicking corals) cause breakage of live coral, damage which can take decades to repair. This in turn undermines the resilience of coral to other global stressors, such as climate change.

Reef-World’s flagship Green Fins program targets dive and snorkeling operators and helps them become driving forces in coral reef protection and conservation.?Green Fins was first introduced in Puerto Galera in 2011 and met much success.?However, all Green Fins operations halted during the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this fundraiser was to rebuild local capacity for Green Fins operations in Puerto Galera.

Key project activities

6-day Green Fins (GF) Assessor Training Programme conducted by Sam Wilson, Emma Levy, and Erin Canto from The Reef-World Foundation (RWF) in Puerto Galera, Philippines
4 assessors (2 men and 2 women) from Blue Alliance successfully passed and completed activities to become certified Green Fins assessors.
Assessment, reporting, and feedback completed for 4 marine tourism businesses in Puerto Galera.
Awareness-raising presentations completed for four marine tourism businesses, reaching 30 pax (21 men and 9 women).
Recruitment of 5 marine tourism businesses to the GF online platform, the GF Hub.
Adaptation of GF awareness raising presentation Tier 1 to address local threats.
Stakeholder event conducted with seven operations discussing local challenges for sustainable tourism in Puerto Galera and re-introducing Green Fins.
Discussions and local strategy updates with Municipal Environmental Resources Office (MENRO), Municipal Agricultural Office (MAO), Financial Management Office (FMO), Department of Tourism (DOT), Blue Alliance and RWF.

Key project outcomes

This fundraiser supported Reef-World’s direct costs to deliver the six-day Green Fins Assessor Training Programme in Puerto Galera. Four local environmental champions with the skills and resources needed to conduct ongoing operations have been trained. As qualified Assessors, they conducted assessments to reactivate Green Fins memberships, helping businesses to once again build sustainability action plans.

They have also delivered awareness-raising presentations to dive centre staff and tourists, building understanding of sustainable business practices. Together with Reef-World’s support, they are using the assessment data to inform local decision-making around the national and local government’s new sustainable tourism plans.

Concretely, within the scope of this project, the following has been delivered in Puerto Galera:

Training for 4 Green Fins Assessors
Reassessments of 4 local business operations
Environmental awareness raising for 30 local dive staff (estimated 30% female)
Estimated 8,000 tourists reached with environmental messaging (estimated 2,000 per operator)

Community involvement

Assessor team’s community network

The four assessors from the Blue Alliance team already have strong connections with the marine tourism industry in Puerto Galera. During the recruitment process many of the shop staff, particularly the dive guides, had personal and professional connections with the Blue Alliance staff and were very open to conversations with the team about activities.

The Blue Alliance awareness activities, particularly Blue Talks, are already a regular activity for many dive centres. This groundwork will be very useful for developing Green Fins awareness-raising activities beyond just the certified members.

Established Dive Association

The Dive Association in Puerto Galera may be less active now, but the president and VP of the association is connected with local government and respected within the community. They are also the manager of a dive centre that is a re-engaged Green Fins member from this ATP.

Dive associations have proven to be very impactful, particularly when connected with LGU and included in local planning. They give an organised voice to the businesses in the area and provide a level of technical expertise that is vital for marine planning in the area.

Stakeholder event with local dive operators

This event was organised to re-engage with the local dive industry, gaining insights into local issues and communicating the return of Green Fins and how it has changed since 2017. A recruitment drive,