Protecting biodiversity in Negros Natural Park

By Easter Anne D. Doza

Wednesday 25th of April 2012

NEGROS OCCIDENTAL, April 25 (PIA6) - - The Northern Negros Natural Park (NNNP) is home to giants.

In its interiors, one may find Almaciga trees (Agathisphilippinensis) so huge that the trunk could not be embraced fully even by eight people standing side by side with both hands outstretched.

This is just one of the many reasons why the provincial government of Negros Occidental is relentlessly protecting the Park under a co-management scheme with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

Thus, the Provincial Environment Management Office (PEMO) conducted a Biodiversity Assessment (both flora and fauna) in the interior portion of the NNNP from April 15-21.

The activity was conducted also in close coordination with the City of Silay through the Office of the Environment and Natural Resources Office headed by Christia Ledesma.

Silay City Mayor Jose ‘Oti’ Montelibano is in full support of the environmental projects of the province and strongly endorses foot patrol operations of the Bantay Bukid Brigades within the Park.

With around 25,000 hectares of Strict Protection Zone (SPZ), the Park is home to critically endangered large mammals such as the Visayan Spotted Dear (Cervusalfredi), Visayan Warty Pig (Suscebifrons), and Common Palm Civet (Paradoxurushermaphroditus), among many endemic species.

It hosts several threatened, endangered and critically endangered species of wildlife and regulated trees species.

Majestic birds such as the Tarictic Hornbill, Serpent Eagle , Hawk Eagle, Brahminy Kite, Philippine Scops Owl, Reddish Cuckoo-Dove, Bleeding Heart Pigeon, Imperial Pigeon and Blue Crowned Racquet-Tail among others.

According to Birdlife International, NNNP has 40 percent endemicity on birds alone which means that 4 out of 10 birds in the area cannot be found elsewhere but only in Negros.

As part of the Negros First Agenda of the provincial government, the plan of ensuring the integrity of NNNP is a priority program- as a great biodiversity site, as a principal water font for 17 municipalities and cities in the entire Negros Island, as a source of fresh clean air, and as pollution buffer for the entire Negros Island.

Gov. Alfredo Marañon’s Negros First Agenda advances the right to sustainable water, food security, and ensuring environmental conservation together with economic development for the whole of Negros Occidental.

The conduct of biodiversity assessments provides the province with scientific data to back up policies and programs to be undertaken in the Park.

Like many forest reserves in the country, there are numerous threats to the ecological integrity and biodiversity of NNNP.

The presence of large settlements inside the reserve composed of 8,814 households within the 43 barangays is exerting pressures on the resources of the Park.

During the assessment, indigenous traps for warty pigs and spotted deer were found and dismantled.

Some of these traps still bore their wanton effects on their victims. Bones of Visayan Warty Pigs and Visayan Spotted Deer gave muted screams of man’s excesses and greed.

Timber poaching, illegal gathering of rattan and other forest products, and treasure hunting constantly beset the Park.

The strengthening on the enforcement of local laws by the local government units within the Park will help address these issues.*(EAD/JCM/-PIA6/PEMO Negros Occidental)