A landmark study raised urgency to improve planning, legal, financial and protection systems of and legislation for Philippine protected areas (PAs) so these can be better managed for present and future generations.
Released Wednesday (Jan. 14) in Metro Manila, the study ‘National Management Effectiveness and Capacity Assessment (NMECA) of PAs in the Philippines’ by Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and Germany’s Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale ZusammenarbeitGmbH (GIZ) indicated need for such improvement, noting public biodiversity conservation efforts have been undertaken over the years but much work must still be done to further improve PAs’ on-site management.
”The study will influence resource management fundamentals of the Philippines,” DENR Sec. Ramon Paje said at the biodiversity conference that focused on NMECA.
He noted PA management must continue improving to further guard against environmental degradation and biodiversity loss nationwide.
Efficient management is one key to PAs’ survival particularly since the projected Philippine population increase will expectedly take its toll on natural resources nationwide as people’s tendency is to over-extract these, he said.
”The common tendency of countries with high populations is to over-exploit its natural resources – the effect is degradation,” he continued.
RA 7586 (National Integrated Protected Areas System Act of 1992) defines PAs as “portions of land and water set aside by reason of their unique physical and biological significance, managed to enhance biological diversity and protected against destructive human exploitation.”
NMECA covered 61 local sites representing over 25 percent of 240 key PAs nationwide, providing the country for the first time a comprehensive view of the areas’ state. [PNA]
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