Here you can read conservation act. Agenda 21
Here you can read about Global Biodiversity Conservation Efforts
Here you can read about Herpetoculture and Conservation
South East Asia, The problem area for Conservation
Asia´s flora and fauna are incredibly diverse and unique in many ways. It is therefore no surprise that HerpaWorld is actively in conservation efforts in
the Philippine biodiversity hotspots. Unfortunately, uncontrolled destruction and over-utilization of resources are an immediate threat to many of these biologically
important areas. Some Philippine Islands remains a cause for great concern in the international community. Nowhere is the destruction occurring at such an enormous
rate and problems appearing so complex.
Most of our projects are characterized by long-term commitment and persistence. We believe that this is the only way to approach our goal: conserving biodiversity on a long-term basis
Conservation is not possible without the support of local people. Hence, close collaboration with local organizations, authorities and people is a basic requirement for all our projects.
We only protect what we know - and love. Therefore, education of the people on site is an important component of our projects.
Biodiversity Conservation in the Philippines
What is Biodiversity?
Biological diversity or biodiversity encompasses all species of plants, animals and microorganisms and the ecosystems and ecological processes of which they are part.
It is an umbrella term for the degree of nature's variety, including both the number and frequency of ecosystems and species, or genes in a given assemblage.
It is usually considered at three different levels: genetic diversity, species diversity and ecosystem diversity.
It is declining at a rate unmatched in 65 million years. The United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) declares that "thousands of species worldwide are under threat from overuse,
loss of habitat and environmental pollution.
Because species in ecosystems are interdependent, the loss of one species can lead to the disappearance of many others." Species extinction is at a level never known before. Ecosystems
such as forests, wetlands and grasslands are being altered and destroyed, upsetting the delicate balance of nature.
The State of Philippine Biodiversity
According to the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau (PAWB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the present knowledge of biodiversity in the Philippines
is relatively inadequate and acquired mostly from studies done by foreign biologists during the early 1900s.
Recently, more Filipino biologists and naturalists became more involved in taxonomic and biodiversity studies resulting to the identification of a number of species of plants and animals.
The table below summarizes the level of biodiversity of Philippine flora and fauna based on the number of species per taxonomic group which have been documented by various scientists.
Estimated Number of Species in the Various Groups of Plants and Animals in the Philippines (January 1992)
Note: Available information have not yet been compiled for these Groups. Compiled for the WWF, UPSRF, FSDI, WB & DENR Integrated Protected
Areas System (IPAS I Projects, 1990-1992).
In a nutshell, the following are the facts and figures on the country's state of biodiversity:
· At least 2,000 fish species are found in the Philippines.
· 12,000 plant species and 960 animal species are found in Philippine forests
· Of the 960 animal species, over 500 are birds and 167 are mammals.
· About 98 of mammal species, are endemic to the Philippines.
· There are about 170,000 faunal species, most of which are insects and are mostly unidentified.
· About 488 coral species in 78 genera are found in the Philippines out of the 500 known coral species worldwide.
· There are about 22 principal species of beach vegetation, 10 of which are considered dominant.
· There are sixty-one (61) national parks, two (2) marine parks, and eight (8) game refuges and bird sanctuaries, and 10 wilderness areas covering an area of 1.4 million hectares or 4% of the total land area of the Philippines.
Source: IPAS Final Report. Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and Pamayanan
Biodiversity in the Philippine Forests
The Philippine forests are among the world's richest. The floral diversity is estimated to consists of around 8,000 species, of which 3,500 are endemic. Palawan alone has 1,500 flowering plant species.
Species endemism was once thought to be as high as 15%, recent research however, based on Flora Malesiana suggests it is nearer 5%.
Source: Plants in Danger: What do we know? Stephen D. Davis et.al. Published by the Internation Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, Gland, Switzerland, and Cambridge, U.K. 1986.
The Philippines is quite famous for its hardwoods such as apitong (Dipterocarpus grandiflorus), tangile (Shorea polysperma), red lauan (Shorea negrosensis), white lauan (Shorea contorta),
mayapis (Shorea palosapis), guijo (Shorea guiso), yakal (Shorea astylosa), kalunti (Shorea hopeifolia), bagtikan (Parashorea malaanonan), palosapis (Anisoptera thurifera var. thurifera) and
manggachapui (Hopea acuminata).
In the lowland evergreen rainforest, there are many other species that have not been fully identified. In the montane forests (mossy forests), the predominant flora include mosses, leafy liverworts,
filmy ferns, orchids, flowering vines, and oaks. There are perhaps many more that have not been catalogued. There is an urgent need for a more complete study of faunal biodiversity in the Philippine forests.
There is a big knowledge gap with respect to invertebrates.
Source: IPAS Final Report. Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
Conserving Philippine Biological Diversity: A Primer. Prepared by: The Philippine Institute of Alternative Futures (PIAF)/NGO/PO Counterpart Secretariat of the Philippine Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD).
Biodiversity in the Philippine Wetlands
Wetlands in the Philippines are extremely diverse and provide a wide range of different habitats ranging from coastal mangroves, estuaries and mudflats to high altitude volcanic crater lakes.
This wide range of wetland habitats harbours a great diversity of different species. Wetlands have often been more well-known for the great numbers of certain organisms (such as migratory waterbirds)
which inhabit or feed in them. They are also very important in terms of biodiversity. Wetlands in the Philippines support over 2,600 species or 71 percent of fish at some point in their life cycle (AWB, 1990).
Therefore, they are extremely critical sites for biodiversity conservation.
Source: IPAS Final Report. Department of Environment and Natural Resources. Conserving Philippine Biological Diversity: A Primer.
Biodiversity in the Philippine Mangroves
Compared to the terrestrial forest ecosystem, the mangrove ecosystem may be considered as a simple ecological community in terms of species diversity but is exceedingly a complex system to evaluate.
Mangrove swamp forests are distinguished from the tropical rain forests by the following features:
· paucity of species and their gregarious occurrence
· paucity of epiphytes and parasites, vines and
· the absence of palms except nipa (Nypa futicans) and anibong (Oncosperma tigillarium).
There are probably no species of mangrove forms that have been considered endemic to the Philippines. However, as habitats, they are unique. Ecologically, they are important in shoreline stabilization
and protection. Moreover, the Philippine government has decided to conserve the remaining virgin mangrove swamps (Presidential Proclamation Nos. 2151 and 2152, 29 December 1981).
Source: IPAS Final Report. Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
Species Diversity
Species diversity is measured in relation to a given area --from a small field to the entire planet. It can be assessed in terms of the number of species or the range of different types of species an area contains.
Species diversity is often incorrectly equated with biological diversity. So far, 1.7 million species have been described worldwide. estimates of the total number of species on Earth range from 5 to 100 million
-- 12.5 million being a conservative working estimate. Although most of the earth's species are insects and microorganisms, this is not reflected in the types of species that have been described to date.
There has been a definite bias towards describing large organisms, those that are considered attractive or appealing (such as flowering plants and butterflies), those most closely resembling humans
(vertebrates, especially mammals), and those that have a direct impact on human activities (such as pests). Organisms that can be studied without complex procedures or expensive equipment have also taken precedence,
as have those which are relatively easy to locate.
This, however, underestimates the importance of microorganisms including algae, bacteria, fungi, protozoa and viruses, which are vital to life on Earth. So far, less than 3-5 percent of microorganisms
have been described. Yet the very existence of larger organisms depends upon the continued availability of the microorganisms they require. Coral reefs, for example, could not exist without algae.
At the ecosystem level, the greatest biomass in soil is microorganisms, especially fungi.
These maintain soil structure and composition through, for instance, the biodegradation and incorporation of dead plant and animal remains. Clearly, the loss of micro-organisms can lead to major changes in ecosystems.
Biologists are currently studying both species-rich groups (such as insects) and species-rich areas (such as moist tropical forests) in order to provide a more reliable picture of species richness patterns
and a basis for estimating the number of species on Earth.
Source:Global Marine Biological Diversity: A Strategy for Building Conservation into Decision-Making. Edited by A. Norse.
Aqua Farm News. A publication of the SEAFDEC Aquaculture Department, Iloilo, Philippines. Vol. XII No. 3. May-June 1994. pp. 2-3.