Pinay cited for saving crocodiles

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines – A conservationist based in Isabela has received an international award from a London-based environment group for her efforts to save the world’s most critically endangered crocodile species.

Marites Gatan-Balbas, deputy director of the Mabuwaya Foundation, is the first Filipino to receive the prestigious Whitley Award for Nature from The Princess Royal for her Philippine crocodile conservation work in San Mariano, Isabela.

Princess Anne is the award’s major patron. Balbas received the award in a ceremony held on Thursday at the Royal Geographical Society in London.

According to Merlijn Van Weerd, the foundation’s director, Balbas is so far the only Filipino recipient of the international award dubbed as the “Green Oscar.”

The Whitley Award is in recognition of Balbas’ more than 15 years of hard work in leading and trying to save the Philippine crocodile from extinction in the wild, he said.

Mabuwaya (or Long Live Crocodile) is the only known organization in the country working for the conservation of the Philippine crocodile, which international conservationist groups described as the world’s most endangered crocodile species.

Last year, the foundation said only about 100 mature Philippine crocodiles were left in the country due to habitat loss, hunting, destructive fishing and predation by other animals.

“If we can save the Philippine crocodile when people view them as very scary and something to be feared, then I believe we can save all other critically endangered species in our country from extinction,” Balbas said.

Philippine crocodiles, or Crocodylus mindorensis, are mainly restricted to freshwater areas and generally pose no threat to humans unless provoked.

Philippine crocodiles are relatively smaller than the saltwater crocodile species (Crocodylus porosus), which included the famous 6.17-meter crocodile Lolong. Captured along the Bunawan creek in Agusan del Sur on Sept. 3, 2012, Lolong was the world’s longest crocodile ever caught. But it died in captivity on Feb. 10, 2013.

The foundation lamented that Philippine crocodiles are rarer but receive little attention and conservation action compared to the Philippine Eagle.

“The Philippine crocodile is the rarest crocodile species on the planet. It is endemic to the Philippines and cannot be found anywhere else in the world,” Balbas said.

Mabuwaya’s conservation efforts started in 1999 following the discovery of several Philippine crocodiles in San Mariano, Isabela. Research efforts then followed suit with the provincial government, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and Isabela State University.

Since then more than 70 baby crocodiles, which were born and raised at the town’s breeding center, have been released by the foundation along the Dicatian Lake in the border of San Mariano and Divilacan towns.

The release at Dunoy Lake in May 2012 was even spearheaded by Michel Lacoste, scion of the founder-owner of the popular French brand of fashion items and knitwear with the crocodile logo.

Other recipients of this year’s Whitley Award are Jean Wiener of Haiti for 25 years of conserving Haiti’s coastal ecosystems and securing its first marine protected areas; Shivani Bhalla of Kenya for enabling the coexistence of people and lions in northern Kenya; and Luis Torres of Cuba for building a national movement to save Cuba’s amazing plant life.

Also awarded were Fitryi Pakiding of Indonesia for uniting coastal communities to secure the Pacific’s last stronghold for nesting leatherback turtles; Melvin Gumal of Malaysia for protecting Borneo’s iconic great apes and conservation of orangutans in Sarawak; Stoycho Stoychev of Bulgaria for making the imperial eagle as a flagship for conserving the wild grasslands of southeastern Bulgaria; and Paula Kahumbu of Kenya for his “Hands off our elephants” project” which led to African leadership’s addressing a poaching crisis in Kenya.