Opportunities and Risks
During the creation of the North Manila Bay Flood Protection Strategy, an opportunity and risk log was maintained. The following tables describe the primary opportunities and risks identified.
Opportunities in North Manila Bay Flood Protection Strategy
Opportunity | Way forward |
The landscape proposition from Wetlands International Philippines aligns with the efforts of the North Manila Bay Flood Protection Strategy in terms of implementing Nature-based Solutions. | This flood protection strategy takes as much as possible the knowledge from previous studies and tries to use that as a basis for the strategy. Both this strategy and Wetlands International are using Nature-based Solutions, therefore providing synergy between the two projects. The pilot locations following out of this strategy should be coordinated with Wetlands International Philippines. |
Biodiversity offset measures for the New Manila International Airport could overlap with this strategy. The pace of the implementation could confuse stakeholders, and consultation processes might be treated differently. | During the preparation for the North Manila Bay Flood Protection Strategy, meetings with San Miguel Corporation (airport developer) and Boskalis (dredging contractor) were held in which interest for the flood protection strategy was expressed by both parties but they were not able to commit to any alignment. In December 2021 Atradius (credit export insurance Boskalis) published parts of the EIS [3] [4] [5] for the airport project. In 2022 it should be monitored how compensation/offset measures overlap/align with this strategy. |
Risks in North Manila Bay Flood Protection Strategy
Risk | Mitigation |
The Manila Bay Sustainable Development Masterplan will not be ratified. For implementing this flood protection strategy, it is assumed the Manila Bay Sustainable Development Masterplan will be the basis. | The North Manila Bay Flood Protection Strategy provides a "small-scale" institutional setup to cover until the Strategy is in force (see Section 6). This will be a temporary solution for the pilot locations. If the Manila Bay Sustainable Development Masterplan is not ratified, the institutional setup in this strategy could be expanded to serve bigger projects. |
2022 is an election year, and it will have an impact on the ability to make decisions and influence specific stakeholders. | For the proposed pilot locations, "bottom-up" institutional settings are proposed to mitigate any problems with regional/national politics. But it has to be recognized that the election also has an influence on local politics. To reduce issues with government funding during election periods, alternative funding tracks are proposed, see Section 0. |
The institutional complexity surrounding coastal zone management and flood protection can lead to the inability to execute new/innovative projects. Responsibilities and mandates are split over various government agencies, and practical implementation is highly dependent on motivated and funded LGU's. | The North Manila Bay Flood Protection Strategy assumes that the Manila Bay Sustainable Development Masterplan will be ratified regarding the wider flood protection strategy. For early implementation pilot projects, this strategy proposes alternative small-scale institutional setups, see Section 6. |