Phl Eagle conservation project wins int’l award

By Henrylito D. Tacio
A project initiated by the Philippine Eagle Foundation (PEF) has been declared one of the two winners of the first ever Innovation Prize for outstanding ideas and concepts in financial tropical forest conservation given by the International Society of Tropical Foresters (ISTF).
ISTF, based at the Yale University, has chosen PEF as the winner of the US$500 Prize for “its holistic forest biodiversity conservation in the Arakan Valley through ‘corridors’ and stepping stones.’”
Arakan Valley is located in North Cotabato. Originally a lowland tropical forest, it has already lost 94 percent of its forest cover. “What remains are confined in three forest islands, two of which are global KBAs,” the ISTF said in a statement posted in its website (www.istf.yale.edu).
KBAs, which stands for Key Biodiversity Areas, are globally significant sites for biodiversity conservation identified using universal standards. They include Important Bird Areas (IBAs), Important Plant Areas (IPAs), Important Sites for Freshwater Biodiversity, Ecologically and Biologically Significant Areas (EBSAs) in the High Seas and Alliance for Zero Extinction (AZE) sites.
“Using a landscape restoration framework crafted by various stakeholders, a revitalized Arakan Forest Corridor Development Program (AFCDP) began in 2010,” the ISTF statement said.
The AFCDP is a multi-year initiative that combines forest management, poverty alleviation, resource mobilization, local capacity building, advocacy and education to restore the social-ecological resiliency of the Arakan landscape and its predominantly poor, rural inhabitants.
Currently, 6,000 hectares of the KBAs are legally protected with clear management regimes that also conserve Philippine Eagle, which has been identified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as a “threatened species.”
“Native trees were also re-planted in 370 hectares of non-forest areas around ‘core zones’ through small-holder ‘rainforestation’ approaches, with census showing a 60 percent average survival rate in successful reforestation plots,” the ISTF statement said.
Using a “sustainable livelihoods framework” approach, the well-being of 200 indigenous households performing clear environmental services is also being secured.
“During the previous year, household annual income has tripled from rainforestation fees,” the statement further said. “Basic education, health and livelihood support were also facilitated as ‘conservation incentives.’
“Sustainable conservation financing and ‘in-kind’ incentives are brokered through ‘conservation agreements’ between communities and their government, private and corporate benefactors,” it added.
So far, the project has mobilized US $ 316,000 of funding through the innovative ‘private-public-community’ partnerships.
Some 36 hectares of small, natural forests patches within production landscapes that are wildlife ‘stepping stones’ in between core zones “will be rehabilitated and expanded through a private-landholder restoration initiative.”
Less than 400 pairs of Philippine eagles can be found in the country and about half of them are living in the forests of Mindanao. The Philippine Eagle Center in Davao City houses more than a dozen pairs.
“The Philippine eagle is the largest predator we have,” Dennis Salvador, PEF executive director, points out. “By using the Philippine eagle as the focal point of conservation, we are, in the process, saving wildlife and their habitat.”
The Philippine eagle is second only to the Madagascar sea eagle in rarity. In size, it beats the American bald eagle; it is the world’s second largest — after the Harpy eagle of Central and South America.
This bird of prey was first discovered in 1896 by English naturalist John Whitehead in Samar.
The other winner was the MACO Initiative which was awarded US$2,500. It has been cited as “an example of rural-urban ‘idea innovation flow’ for water and land conservation.”
This project is located in Northern Honduras, in the municipality of Olanchito. The place is described as “a highly biodiverse region that harbors several unique and threatened species and faces numerous pressures tied to deforestation, including drought and forest fires, cattle ranching, and slash-and-burn agriculture.”
The two projects were chosen for addressing the following: conserving biodiversity across multiple-use landscapes, creating long-term conservation benefits, achieving conservation results that are measurable and sustainable, working with different stakeholders across sectors, and using innovative tools for biodiversity conservation or landscape design.
The other criteria for selection include : implemented or in the process of implementation; environmental impact, social inclusiveness, economic soundness and originality; lead by a local organization in a developing tropical country; and has multidisciplinary research and teams.