BD Corridor Salutes Partnerships
for World Wildlife Day 2023
The DENR-UNDP/GEF Biodiversity Corridor Project on Friday (March 3) highlighted the vital importance of partnerships for wildlife conservation during the celebration of World Wildlife Day 2023.
The BD Corridor Project together with the DENR Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB) and UNDP Philippines celebrated the symbolic dual event of the 10th anniversary of World Wildlife Day and 50th birthday of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) at the DENR-BMB training center in Quezon City.
The primary objective of the BD Corridor Project is to operationalize the integrated management of biodiversity corridors to generate multiple benefits, including effective conservation of globally threatened species and high value conservation forests, reduce deforestation and degradation, and enhance local biodiversity-friendly livelihoods.
Through the Project, partners for wildlife conservation from national and regional government agencies, local government units, academic and scientific institutions, civil society organizations, private sector and indigenous and local communities help link core habitats to restore and conserve biodiversity that underpins lives and livelihoods.
To note, biodiversity corridors are areas of suitable habitat that provide functional linkages between protected areas and/or non- protected areas. They conserve habitat for species movement and maintenance of viable populations, conserve and enhance ecosystem services, as well as promote and enhance local community welfare through the conservation and use of natural resources.
Conserve and Protect
DENR Asst. Sec. Marcial Amaro Jr., director of DENR-BMB in concurrent capacity as DENR Assistant Secretary for Policy, Planning, and Foreign-Assisted and Special Projects, delivered the keynote message of Environment Sec. Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga.
Asec. Amaro said World Wildlife Day 2023 presents “an opportunity for us to celebrate the incredible diversity of life in our planet and to recommit ourselves in protecting wildlife and their habitats.” He said the event and its 2023 theme emphasizes “the crucial role that partnership plays and continues to play in conserving our planet’s rich diversity.”
Senator Cynthia Villar, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Climate Change, cited the need to be more proactive in conserving and protecting wildlife resources. “We owe it to the future generation to conserve and protect our wildlife resources, since it is part of our duty leave this world better than we have found it,” Sen. Villar said.
Sen. Villar, who championed the declaration of Las Piñas–Parañaque Critical Habitat and Ecotourism Area (LPPCHEA) as an international Ramsar wetland site and a national protected area, also revealed that she has filed Senate Bill 125, or the revised Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection Bill, which aims to amend Republic Act No. 9147, otherwise known as the Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection Act of 2001.
She said the amendment after 22 years will help “address and fortify mechanisms in place to afford better protection and conservation,” as well as provide penalties as deterrents against large-scale illegal trade and trafficking of wildlife species.
IEM Approach
Alain Maulion, corridor project manager for the Mindoro Biodiversity Corridor, presented a more detailed context of biodiversity corridor and integrated ecosystem management, primarily in Mindoro Island.
“The ecosystem approach is a strategy for the integrated management of land, water and living resources that promotes conservation and sustainable use in an equitable way,” Maulion added. “The ecosystem approach puts people and their natural resource use practices squarely at the center of decision-making.”
One of the priority Project indicators is the status of key species remaining stable and increasing from a determined baseline of forest obligate species for Mindoro, specifically the tamaraw and kulo-kulo (Mindoro bleeding-heart pigeon). Based on the simultaneous vantage point method in at least 18 vantage points, the 2022 annual tamaraw count determined around 407 individual tamaraws, while the next count is scheduled in April 2023.
As a corridor of multiple partners, intervention in the Mindoro Biodiversity Corridor and the conservation of the tamaraw entail multi-sector and multi-disciplinary scientific, academic, and financing organizations and institutions consistent with the Tamaraw Conservation and Management Action Plan (TCMAP) 2021-2030.
Mr. Maulion also cited the project partnerships with UNDP Biofin, D’Aboville Foundation and other government and non-government partnerships involved in Mindoro wildlife conservation. (Mitch R. Confesor)