Bonsai forest, magic mountain join UNESCO World Heritage

The century-old pygmy forest of Mt. Hamiguitan is the latest addition to the World Heritage sites.
Located within the towns of Mati, San Isidro and Governor Generoso in Davao Oriental, Mt. Hamiguitan is the first in Mindanao and the first mountain range in the Philippines to be listed as a World Heritage Site.
The 6,834-hectare sanctuary Mount Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary is a mountain ridge, with elevations from 75 meters to 1,637 meters above sea level, along the Pujada Peninsula in the Eastern Mindanao Biodiversity Corridor.
A protected area since 2004, the mountain was declared a Wildlife Sanctuary in 2004.
It is home to the iconic Philippine Monkey-Eating Eagle, the country’s national bird and the world’s second-largest eagle. Another inhabitant is the Philippine Cockatoo; both birds are on the Red List of Threatened Species of the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
The mountain harbors critically endangered trees, threatened plants and animals, eight species of which are found only in the mountain. The Shorea polysperma plant, the Shorea astylosa tree and the Paphiopedilum adductum orchid found on its slopes are also on the Red List.
The range nurtures 1,380 species of plants and 341 species of animals that are endemic to the Philippines.
Some 53 bird species, such as the dark-eared brown dove and the Tarictic hornbill, are found in the sanctuary. So are the Golden-crowned Flying Fox, Philippine Warty Pig, tarsier, brown deer and the Philippine mossy-pygmy fruit bat.
And it is famous for its 225-hectare pygmy forest consisting of 100-year-old bonsai trees.
After six years of documentation and evaluation, UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) in June declared the sanctuary a World Heritage Site (read: Protect and Conserve, Don’t Touch,).
“The site represents the fast disappearing habitats of globally important species of plants and animals,” according to a Philippine paper submitted to UNESCO. “At the national level, this sanctuary is a conservation interest. At a global scale, it is known to be a habitat of globally important species of plants and animals.” [SciPhil]