The role of the Philippine Navy towards sustaining environmental and ecological integrity for the Philippines

Abstract

With the end of the Cold War, most countries enjoy stable borders without threat of military conflict. International treaties have provided an assurance of relative safety. A multipolar world will bring in new and unexpected problems in the International arena. But even as most countries enjoy stable borders, the threat of nuclear conflict is disappearing and International treaties and organizations provide assurances of protection - we are seeing in this era a realignment of interests, new alliances, and new forms and causes of regional violence. Rising population, over harvesting of fish, depletion of forests and the overuse of ground water reserves will lead to unemployment, inflation and declining productivity in many countries and such conditions will threaten world stability. These are in addition to the traditional concerns we have and farther aggravated as we enter a period of unrestrained population growth, inequitable and wasteful use of natural resource, and the degradation of critical environmental services will increasingly affect international behavior and relations and threaten the goal of common security. Being an archipelagic country, it is only natural for the Philippines to take special and vital interests over its water and aquatic resources. Also, ecological disorder is increasingly viewed in National Security terms and related conflict and violence around the world, raising the issue of the role of the military in responding to the problem of environmental degradation and marine pollution. This study addresses the role of the Philippine Navy in the environmental security of the Philippines.