10 tribal sites to be declared protective areas

MANILA, Philippines – Ten sites inhabited by indigenous people will be declared protected areas, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said over the weekend.

The DENR-Biodiversity Management Bureau will implement the project, which is meant to recognize the areas managed by tribal folk.

“Because of their affinity with nature, indigenious people have traditions that show respect for the environment and preserve it,” BMB director Theresa Mundita Lim said.

The sites are Mt. Taungay in Tinglayan, Kalinga; Mt. Polis in Hungduan, Ifugao; Mt. Imugan in Santa Fe, Nueva Vizcaya; Egongot in Maria Aurora, Aurora; Kanawan in Morong, Bataan; Balabac in Palawan; Mt. Kimangkil in Impasug-ong, Bukidnon; Mt. Apo in Magpet, North Cotabato; Mt. Diwatain In Esperanza, Agusan del Sur, and Dinarawan in Jabonga, Agusan del Norte.

Lim said these sites passed the criteria for the project, which include their being part of the country’s key biodiversity areas, located in seven ethnographic regions, and inclusion on the list of priority environment sites of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP).

The project will be implemented until 2019 under the technical and financial assistance of the Global Environment Facility and the United Nations Development Program.

Lim said the NCIP, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources and local government units would help the BMB in implementing the project.