Eastern, Southern Mindanao identified as RP eagle sanctuary

DAVAO CITY — The eastern and southern parts of Mindanao have been declared sanctuaries for the endangered Philippine Eagle as the area is considered to have the country’s largest remaining thick forest cover.

In this area, a research team of the Philippine Eagle Foundation recently located the greatest number of the giant raptors to have been spotted in the wild.

The population of the Philippine Eagle has been placed at an estimated 500 pairs, with most of them found in the eastern and southern regions of the south.

However, the preservation of the country’s national bird has been hindered by problems linked to environmental conservation in the areas.

The lack of awareness on environmental issues as well as the lack of livelihood alternatives for local residents have been identified as factors leading to reduced populations of the Philippine Eagle, as well as hampering conservation and development efforts in eastern and southern Mindanao.

The assessment was made by over 50 municipal development and environment officers as well as local government executives and civil society representatives who attended a recent Stakeholders’ Summit held here in Davao City wherein they concluded that efforts should be made to intensify the information drive on environmental issues as well as providing more livelihood alternatives for those living within the forested areas of the region.

The summit, jointly organized by the Philippine Eagle Foundation, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Conservation International (CI) and the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF), was aimed at tackling updates on the vision map drawn up for the preservation of the Eastern Mindanao Biodiversity Corridor (EMBC), which includes more than half of the forested areas in Mindanao.

The summit participants agreed that in order to preserve the EMBC, the local populace should be made more aware of the importance of taking care of the environment and the benefits it could continue to bring them.

The EMBC is also known to be the home of the most number of Philippine Eagles found in the wild because of its large forest area. And while it supports human populations across 20 municipalities in Southern Mindanao and the Caraga Region, it is also host to many unique species of flora and fauna.

A vision map was drawn up in 2002 in an effort to harmonize environmental objectives and coordinate efforts to preserve the EMBC.

It was disclosed during the summit that the few who are aware of environmental issues are nevertheless constrained to exploit and exhaust their surrounding forest resources due to a lack of other means of livelihood.

The need for more scientific data to back up the implementation of policies and programs to achieve balance in conservation and development in the EMC also joined the list of priorities discussed by the Southern Mindanao participants of the summit.

The summit findings will be incorporated into the draft framework plan to be validated by the same participants in June. Similar processes were also simultaneously being held in the Caraga Region.

Department of the Interior and Local Government Region XI Director Rodolfo Razul urged the stakeholders to take seriously their responsibility to the EMBC. "As a local government unit, we are responsible for where we are now. We are accountable to the next generation," he said.