DENR, LGU, academe forge partnership for Ikogan cave management and protection

Monday 3rd of September 2012

PAGADIAN CITY, Sept.4 (PIA) -- The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Region 9, Jose Rizal Memorial State University (JRMSU)-Katipunan Campus and the local government unit of Katipunan recently forged a partnership in the management, protection and development of Ikogan Cave in Barangay Sanao, Katipunan, Zamboanga del Norte.

The memorandum of agreement (MOA) was signed by DENR-9 Regional Executive Director Arleigh Adorable with JRMSU President Edgar Balbuena and Katipunan Mayor Crisostomo Eguia, Jr. during the opening ceremony of the 1st Zamboanga Peninsula Caving Summit.

The summit which has the theme “Strengthening Cave Conservation Towards Sustainable Ecotourism" was attended by spelunkers and cave enthusiasts from all over the region.

RED Adorable said, the MOA will cement a partnership to craft a management plan for the development of Ikogan Cave as a world class ecotourism destination for cave enthusiasts and showcase it as a living museum owing to the fact that this cave host a unique type of biodiversity and intact formations of speleogens and speleothems.

Mayor Eguia welcome the partnership as this will be a big help to boost tourism in his municipality. He further pledged his full support in terms of local law enforcement to stop the exploitation of cave resources particularly the harvesting of bats and cave vandalism.

Dr. Balbuena also assured the full support of JRMSU as students will be made available for extention services in the area of Ikogan cave such as the conduct of tree planting activities and generation of awareness in the community.

The summit was organized by the DENR 9 Regional Cave Assessment Team (RCAT), aims to capacitate cavers and spelunkers particularly LGUs on the Cave Management and Conservation Program of the government. (JPA/CAL/ Roservirico Tan/DENR9-RPAO/ PIA9)