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Josiah Antonio - The Philippine Star
February 14, 2026 | 12:00am
Photo taken on March 7, 2025, shows the facade of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources central office on Visayas Avenue, Quezon City.
Philstar.com / Dominique Nicole Flores
MANILA, Philippines — Amid threats to the country’s marine resources, food security and maritime domain, the government has begun a five-year effort to protect the Philippine Rise, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said yesterday.
The Philippine Rise is a 13-million-hectare area on the country’s eastern seaboard. A part of the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, the area formerly called Benham Rise is known to be rich in biodiversity, fish stocks and gas deposits.
Named Philippine Rise Integrated Conservation for Enduring Legacies through Ecosystem Support Services (PRICELESS), the five-year initiative is funded by the Global Environment Facility under its seventh cycle.
It will be implemented through the Biodiversity Management Bureau, in partnership with Conservation International and Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia.
“At its core, PRICELESS seeks to strengthen governance, inter-agency coordination and enforcement across the reserve while improving on-site management and promoting sustainable resource use for nearby coastal communities. It aims to curb illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, resolve overlapping institutional mandates and enhance scientific monitoring by improving data generation and information-sharing among agencies,” the agency said.
“With many families along the eastern seaboard dependent on fishing, the project underscores that biodiversity conservation must go hand in hand with sustaining livelihoods – an approach increasingly recognized as essential to ensuring both food security and the long-term health of marine ecosystems,” it added.
A 434,517-hectare portion of the Philippine Rise was declared the Philippine Rise Marine Resource Reserve (PRMRR) in 2018 under Presidential Proclamation No. 489, establishing a 49,684-hectare Strict Protection Zone and a 352,390-hectare Multiple Use Zone jointly co-managed by the DENR and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.
Environment Secretary Raphael Lotilla said the initiative aims to put in place “lasting safeguards for one of the nation’s most important but least understood offshore ecosystems.”
“We have the responsibility to take care of the biodiversity in that area,” Lotilla said, emphasizing that the Philippine Rise’s ecosystem benefits extend not only to the Philippines but to the global community.
He added that understanding what lies within the vast undersea plateau is essential to ensuring its sustainable use and long-term protection.
The agency said the Philippine Rise Conservation Project will be the backbone of these efforts, hoping to strengthen the management of the PRMRR and advance its bid for inclusion under the Expanded National Integrated Protected Areas System.
“For Filipinos, the push is critical: the Rise is a spawning ground for key fish stocks that supply local markets, a natural buffer against climate impacts and a strategic frontier where illegal fishing and foreign intrusions have long threatened livelihoods, biodiversity and national security,” the agency said.
