Ariel Cortes has lived most of his life surrounded by water. As a young boy in the 1970s, he worked as a fishpond caretaker until he was old enough to join the fishers in Manila Bay.
“Our lives here are dependent on fishing, but there are weeks, even whole months, when we don’t go out to sea anymore,” he said, blaming pollution and massive reclamation projects for the declining fish catch.
But the same waters that sustain him and his community also pose an existential challenge in the years ahead.
Studies show that the rising sea level of Manila Bay could inundate coastal communities and force them to retreat elsewhere. For Cortes and other fishers, the prospect of moving permanently away from the coast would not only mean losing their homes and livelihood, but also their identities linked to the sea.
Read more:
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1493135/long-term-plans-needed-to-protect-metro-manilas-most-vulnerable-from-rising-seas