Puerto Princesa City

Sabang Wharf on the northwest coast of Puerto Princesa City caters to tourists visiting the Puerto Princesa Underground River, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The main mode of sea tourist transport is by motorized outrigger boats. Sabang also has an extensive old growth mangrove forest which people can tour on paddleboats.

Despite its popularity as one of the Philippine’s prime eco-tourism destinations, wastewater is discharged directly to natural waterways. From preliminary inspections, it is apparent that a substantial proportion of sewage (both treated and untreated) is discharged directly or indirectly to nearby creeks and canals.

The health risks associated with this system increase significantly as the population density starts to increase. Meanwhile, local marine ecosystems may also be affected by the pollution which could result in degradation of Sabang’s marine environment and biodiversity.

Currently, there is no community sewage treatment system in Sabang beach. Only hotels and resorts have individual sewage treatment plants (STPs) while limited houses have septic tanks.

The first step in improving sanitation is the installation of individual household treatment systems such as septic tanks. This offers a basic level of sewage treatment and discharge of effluents to soakage trenches that in turn may percolate into natural waterways (creeks and canals). This also minimizes the health risk at the neighborhood level by keeping all wastewater flow below the surface.

The second step is building an eco-friendly offshore artificial reef system in order to reduce the impacts of coastal erosion caused by sea level rise, strong wave energy and coastal flooding among others at the same time provides habitat for the marine biodiversity and enhance fishery productivity with minimal adverse impact on the environment.

Improving the coastal resilience in Sabang, Puerto Princesa City through green-gray infrastructure may unlock multiple benefits including:

• Improve coastal water quality

• Improve marine biodiversity

• Reduce the incidence of water/sanitation-related disease

• Reduce the impact of storm surges on coastal villages

Ultimately, the pilot can make a case for the city wide adoption of nature-based strategies to:

• Promote low carbon and inclusive growth of the tourism sector

• Conserve the ecosystems in the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park