No less than the Ambassador of Federal Republic of Germany in the Philippines, His Excellency Christian-Ludwig Weber-Lortsch opened the First Filipino and German marine science meeting at the Parklane International Hotel in Cebu City last November 6, 2007 to discuss various global issues that affect coastal fisheries resources in light of climate change.

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This is the first time for Filipino scientists and scholars who were trained in Germany under the following programs on Fisheries, Integrated Coastal Resources Management Programs of German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), German Foundation for International Developmetn (DSE), Carl Duisberg Gesselschaft (CDG), COASTMAN-SUCOMAR, German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and other German Institutions to meet with their German counterparts.

(SIC's Jun Baclay & Jhed Diez with the German Ambassador Christian-Ludwig Weber-Lortsch & GTZ's Terence Dacles)

In line with the GTZ's Topic for 2007, "Capacity Development", the GTZ assisted Environment and Rural Development (EnRD) Program sponsored the conference together with the various German Development Cooperation partners such as the German Development Service (DED) and Capacity Development International, Germany (InWEnt). The Association of United Filipinos Trained in Germany, Inc. (AUFTRAG), the alumni association based in Cebu hosted the whole meeting.

(SIC Leiter Jhed Diez & Ambassador Lortsch)

The main aim of the meeting is to share inputs and experiences on coastal fisheries resources management programs in relation to global climate change. It will also give the status of programs operating in the environmental sector particularly in the coastal fisheries resources management (CFRM) in the Philippines.

(Dr. Uwe Scholz, Prof. Ittekott & Ambassador Lortsch)

The highlight of the conference was a keynote lecture given by the world renowned Prof. Dr. Venugopalan, director of the Centre of Tropical Studies (ZMT) University of Bremen, Germany on the resiliency of coastal ecosystems coping mechanisms with the effects of climate change. Other speakers were Undersecretary Dr. Garciano Yumul, Jr, from DOST, Dr. Wifredo Campos of UPV, Mr. Nygiel Armada of FISH Project and Dr. Hilly-Ann Quiaoit of Xavier University.

Source:
Taken from The News Today
Written by: Terence Paul U. Dacles
[Program Coordinator for Reg. VI Coastal Fisheries Resources Management & GTZ (German Technical Cooperation)]