PH quietly celebrates May as Month of the Ocean

By virtue of Presidential Proclamation No. 37 issued by President Joseph Ejercito Estrada in 1999, the month of May was declared as the Month of the Ocean (MOO). Perhaps preoccupied by the pressing demands of containing a still-raging pandemic, the government’s current observance of May as the Month of the Ocean is understandably muted and low-key.

This year’s observance of Month of the Ocean is doubly significant. It marks the start of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development from 2021 to 2030. The Philippines’ Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) headlines its alignment by adopting the theme of the UN’s decade-long observance, The Science We Need for the Ocean We Want. Key challenges have been identified for each year of the decade.

For 2021, the theme is: “Understand and beat marine pollution.”