Soon, it will be Christmas season. And before you know it, the year is over. But still, many Filipinos don’t know that 2022 is the Year of Protected Areas (YoPA). The reason for declaring as such is because it coincides with the 90th anniversary of protected area establishment in the country.
On February 1, 1932, Republic Act No. 3915 – An Act Providing for the Establishment of National Parks, Declaring Such Parks as Game Refuges, and for other Purposes – was passed into law.
Following the passing of the said law, Mount Arayat became the first national park in the country and was established on June 27, 1993.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is leading the campaign through its Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB) in tandem with the Department of Tourism (DOT) and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).
Its theme is “Protected Areas for a Protected Future.” A massive campaign on the urgent need to conserve protected areas when it was launched in May this year.
Protected areas in the Philippines encompasses 4,620,000 hectares of terrestrial areas and 3,140,000 hectares of marine areas.
About 39% (2.7 million hectares) of the 6.8 million hectares of the country’s forest cover are within the protected areas, according to the Philippine Clearing House Mechanism (Philchm). In addition, 93 of the 228 key biodiversity areas are also within protected areas.
The YoPA campaign also encourages Filipinos to visit those breathtaking ecotourism destinations.
“Aside from educating people on the importance of conserving biodiversity and managing protected areas, the campaign highlights the critical need to increase the number of visits and to allow travellers to contribute to conservation efforts,” said DOT in a statement.
“The revenues earned by the protected areas will be used for programs and activities such as, habitat protection and monitoring, wildlife protection and enforcement, resources assessment and monitoring, ecotourism development, conservation interventions, and communication, education and public awareness, among others,” the statement added.
The environment department agrees. “Tourism in protected areas can be beneficial to local conservation efforts but it can also bring harmful impacts to the biodiversity conservation and management of the park,” BMB states.
“When we choose to adopt responsible tourism practices, we are contributing to the natural and cultural conservation of the protected areas,” BMB adds.
Currently, there are 246 protected areas under the National Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS). Of these protected areas, 112 of which have been legislated, 13 have been proclaimed by the president, and 121 remain as initial components of the NIPAS.
The NIPAS was established by virtue of Republic Act 7586 in 1992. NIPAS is the classification and administration of all designated protected areas to maintain essential ecological processes to preserve genetic diversity, to ensure the sustainable use of resources found in the protected areas, and to maintain their natural conditions to the greatest extent possible.
NIPAS, however, was amended by Republic Act 11038 or the Expanded NIPAS Act of 2018 which then President Rodrigo R. Duterte signed. ENIPAS strengthens the government’s thrust to protect the environment by establishing mechanisms for the mobilization of resources and providing adequate scientific and technical support for the preservation and sustainability of the country’s ecosystem.
In Davao Region, only one area is classified as proclaimed: Baganga Protected Landscape in Baganga, Davao Oriental. There are two initial components: Malagos Watershed Reservation in Guianga, Davao City and Mangroves from Baculin Point to Lakud Point, from Tanuip Point to Quinaglangan Island and Samal Island.
However, Davao Region is home to 11 legislated protected areas. Leading the list is Mount Apo National Park in Sta. Cruz, Bansalan, Digos City (all three of Davao del Sur) and Davao City (some parts of the mountain are also located in Kidapawan City, Makilala, and Magpet of Cotabato).
Mati City in Davao Oriental has three protected areas: Mount Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary (parts of the range are also located in San Isidro and Governor Generoso), Mati Protected Landscape, and Pujada Bay Protected Landscape and Seascape.
The three remaining protected areas are Mabini Protected Landscape and Seascape (in Mabini, Davao de Oro), Mainit Hotspring Protected Landscape (in Nabunturan, Davao de Oro), and Aliwagwag Protected Landscape (contested by Boston and Cateel, both in Davao Oriental and Compostela, Davao de Oro).
The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) listed the Philippines as one of the world’s 18 mega-biodiverse countries as it contains two-thirds of the earth’s biodiversity and between 70% to 80% of the world’s plant and animal species.
The Philippines ranks fifth in the number of plant species and maintains 5% of the world’s flora, said a government report. Over half of the country’s 53,000 described species can be found nowhere else in the world.
“Sadly, the Philippines is also a biodiversity critical hotspot with at least 700 species being in danger of becoming extinct,” the report stated. “Around 93% of the country’s original forest cover has been lost since the 1990s, with 53% of its remaining coral reefs in poor condition.”
Philchm observes: “In order to address these threats to biodiversity, the Philippine government in cooperation and consultation with local and foreign conservation partners, embarked on a mission to establish a system of protected areas in the country.”
Protected areas, as defined by both NIPAS and ENIPAS, are “portions of land and water set aside of their unique physical and biological significance, managed to enhance biological diversity and protected against destructive human exploitation.”
