RP now among world’s top biodiversity ‘hotspots’

LOS BAÑOS, Laguna – "Let us work hard, let us work fast, and let us work effectively."

Thus, declared Undersecretary Demetrio Ignacio as he enjoined the country’s biodiversity experts and advocates to exert more effort in protecting and conserving what is left of the country’s once rich biodiversity resources.

‘The Philippines is considered to have one of the highest biodiversity concentrations in the world. Unfortunately, this biodiversity concentration is also among the most threatened in the world," warned the DENR official.

Ignacio’s forum was the "National Seminar-Workshop for the Philippine Research and Development Agenda on Biodiversity Conservation" held March 20-21 at the DENR-Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau (ERDB) on the UP Los Baños College of Forestry campus here.

Attended by more than a hundred biodiversity scientists and researchers from government and non-government agencies and institutions, the scientific meeting was jointly organized by ERDB, the DENR-Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau (PAWB), and the Los Baños-based ASEAN Regional Center for Biodiversity Conservation (ARCBC).

As defined, "Biodiversity is the living part of our environment. It is the total richness of living forms and life processes on our planet... Biodiversity includes all agriculture, fisheries, forestry, horticulture, wildlife management, nature conservation, and human resources."

Ignacio, who represented DENR Secretary Heherson Alvarez in the scientific meeting, noted that biodiversity research in the country still has "no clear institutional structure and mechanism that would rationalize agenda setting."

Biodiveristy, he emphasized, "provides for our food, clothing, shelter, medicine, and even nourishment for our spirit."

He averred, however, that no matter how much effort is devoted to biodiversity conservation and no matter how well-crafted the framework is, "it would be futile for our biodiversity if we are not able to effectively address several critical challenges."

The challenges are poverty, which he described as the biggest threat to biodiversity conservation; making biodiversity conservation relevant to the day-to-day lives of the people; people’s education on this field; and meaningful participation of the stakeholders, especially the local government units (LGUs).

ERDB assistant director Vicente Cabrera also noted that the problems of biodiversity have grown more complicated over the years.

"On a global basis," Dr. Cabrera stated, "we are no longer merely talking about the poisoning of water resources, denudation of forests, problems of soil erosion, or the pollution of the atmosphere."

The facts and figures rattled off by the workshop resources persons were disconcerting.

Dr. Theresa Mundita Sison-Lim, PAWB assistant director, said that the Philippines is one of 17 countries that contain 60-70 percent of the world’s biodiversity, next only to Brazil, Colombia and Indonesia.

It has 13,500 species of plants (five percent of the world’s flora), more than 8,000 of which are flowering plants.

It has 1,085 species of terrestrial vertebrates consisting of 558 species of birds, 293 species of amphibians, and 18 species of mammals.

There are 13,800 invertebrates found in the country.

As of 1999, however, the Philippines had been identified as one of the 25 global biodiversity hotspots (priority areas for conservation, according to the Red Data Book).

"On a per unit area basis, the Philippines is the top megadiversity country and hottest of the hotspots," Dr. Lim stated.

In a joint report, ERDB Director Celso Diaz and assistant director Cabrera reported that the Philippines is the 23rd most plant-rich country in the world and the seventh in the Asian region.

He noted, however, that the dipterocarp forests are under assault from deforestation and habitat alteration. With the destruction goes the loss of organisms richly associated within the dipterocarp forests.

The mangrove forests have also declined from about 450,000 hectares in 1918 to only 139,100 ha in 1988. Only five percent of the country’s about 18,000-square kilometer coral reefs are in excellent condition.

Executive Director Rafael D. Guerrero III of the Philippine Council for Aquatic and Marine Research and Development (PCAMRD) also reported that the country has 356,328 ha of lakes, rivers, swamplands, and reservoirs.

There are 44 primary freshwater fishes, 53 species of freshwater crustaceans, and more than 7,000 species of freshwater mollusks.

"With the exception of Laguna de Bay, the country’s largest lake, there has been little or no effort to conserve the biodiversity of freshwater ecosystems on a holistic or integrated approach," Dr. Guerrero said.

Notwitstanding the problems and challenges, Undersecretary Ignacio pointed to silver linings in the country’s biodiversity landscape.

For one, he said, the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) has been crafted. Moreover, the Philippine Biodiversity Conservation Priority Setting Program (PBCPSP) identifying 170 land-based and 36 marine priority areas has been formulated.