Socio-economic and Environmental Effects of COVID-19 Pandemic in Coastal Communities of Concepcion, Iloilo

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic caused an enormous impact to the world particularly to the economy, population, healthcare system, and the environment of different countries. The study explored the socio-economic and environmental effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in the coastal communities of the municipality of Concepcion, Iloilo. At present, there are limited studies investigating and accounting the effects of the disease in the country. The review of academic publications and grey literature were done and supplemented by the result of key informant interviews (KIIs). Health and safety become the focus of the local government of Concepcion. All means were done by the municipality to sourced out funding for the healthcare system. Poor families of the community such as farmers and fisherfolks were greatly affected as well as the revenue (decreased to 32.2%) of the municipality. The respondents claimed that there is a short-term decrease of carbon emissions in the atmosphere. The less disturbance of wildlife does not mean increase in biodiversity. Increasing facemask waste poses a threat to marine environment. A lot of lessons have learned by the local government during these trying times including making appropriate decisions, acting fast, capacitating their personnel for disaster preparedness, and investing for healthcare systems and services. Best practices and lessons learned from the pandemic by Concepcion should be replicated to other municipalities of the country. Further studies are recommended to account the damaged brought by the pandemic and become guidance on the development of long-term sustainable policies to address current problems on health, economy, and environment to guarantee that our future is a better one.