12.8% of RP’s biodiversity legally protected

Only 12.8 percent of the total 250 million hectares of land area and archipelagic waters that serve as home to over 50,000 species of plants and animals in the country is currently legally "protected," the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said.

This came as the Philippine hosted the 3rd Southeast Asia Regional Meeting of IUCN-World Commission on Protected Areas (IUCN-WCA), which aims to establish stronger partnerships in conserving biodiversity areas and rehabilitating those already in the red due to continued destruction in the region.

"The diversity of plants and animals makes life possible on earth, playing a critical role in food security, poverty alleviation, provision of water, medicinea and a healthier environment," said DENR Secretary Elisea Gozun during the start of the meeting yesterday morning at the Shangri-La Edsa Plaza Hotel in Mandaluyong City.

"But sadly, the richest countries in biodiversity are unfortunately also among the poorer countries, a case of poverty amid plenty," she said.

Attending the event are government representatives from brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Lao PDR, Thailand, Singapore and Vietnam, as well as representatives from selected non-governmental organizations (NGOs), donor and international organization and specialist members of the WCPA.

Gozun said the regional meeting is expected to come up with conservation directions and proposals that the Southeast Asian countries will present to the 5th World Parks Congress in Durban, Africa in September.

"This meeting will bring together practitioners in the field and in the policy level to share their initiatives, successes and failures in protected area management. We will reflect on the changing conditions in the region as affected by the global changes and we hope to come out with updated management programs that will be more responsive to the changing times," Gozun said.

According to the DENR, more than 93 percent of the country’s original forest cover has been lost in the last 500 years while 418 species were already listed as threatened with extinction.

The DENR said that of the more than 1,130 terrestrial wildlife species recorded for the Philippines, almost half are found nowhere else in the world.