PHL protected areas are poorly managed, int’l study reveals

Are protected areas in the country secured from threats?

A new study conducted by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in cooperation with the Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) revealed that conservation efforts within Philippine protected sites are severely inadequate.

“The overall assessment of the state of PA (protected area) management in the Philippines was poor,” read the study entitled “National Management Effectiveness and Capacity Assessment (NMECA) of Protected Areas in the Philippines,” which was released on Wednesday.

“Through various lenses, it was found that biodiversity… continue(s) to be threatened,” it added.

This study provided a nationwide comprehensive view on the effectiveness of protected area management in the country – a first of its kind.

The report covered 61 sites or 25 percent of the total 240 key protected areas all over the country. Among the areas subjected to this study were the North Negros National Park, Bicol National Park, the island province of Batanes, Moutn Kitanglad and Mount Pulag, among others.

But not only are the Philippines’ conservation efforts poor, none of the protected areas in the country met international standards.

Theresa Mundita-Lim, Biodiversity Management Bureau chief, revealed that there is no key biodiversity area in the country that adheres to global standards.

“Wala kaming PA na nagmemeet ng criteria kaya wala kaming naidentify na best protected area,” she told reporters in a chance interview after the press conference.

Still, Lim noted that a management challenge of protected areas is a “global trend” and the country is not the only one succumbing to it.

Budget constraints, outdated plans

The study identified budget constraints and government agencies’ overlapping mandate as the biggest challenges of protected area management.

“Overall management of the protected areas is significantly affected by limited financial and manpower resources,” it noted.

The report cited that only four protected areas are covered by Republic Acts while the remaining 57 sites covered by the study were legitimized with mere Presidential Proclamations. This indicates that regular and sustained funding is not present.

“Most have PA Management plans… but are outdated and not based on the current condition of the resources thus not having the necessary strategic conservation and protection strategy,” the study read.

Meanwhile, the report noted that passing of Republic Act of 10629 last September may aid in this budgetary problems. According to the law, 75 percent of the Integrated Protected Areas Fund, income generated from entrance fees, would be directed to the local level. Before, 100 percent of the fees generated by the protected area were remitted to the national treasury.

Lim said that her bureau is scheduled to meet with the Budget Department next week to discuss the implementing rules and regulations of the new law and to ask how to implement the new measure on the ground.

Overlapping mandate

“Open access to protected areas resulting threats due to local inaction and weak enforcement of zones overlapping with the responsibility of DENR and LGUs is deemed to be the major cause of the problem,” the report opined.

For instance, some protected areas are also tagged as ancestral domains. The Protected Area Management Board and the indigenous people were both “resource management units” securing the site.

To this, the NMECA report said that the NIPAS Law or the National Integrated Protected Area System of 1992, which provides the framework for the establishment of protected areas in the country, should be harmonized with other laws and mandates that share the same site.

There must be an administrative order or circular between government agencies that “clearly define operational guidelines on the limits and boundaries of investments, zoning, land and resources uses in a PA,” the study suggested.

For her part, Lim noted that the Environment Department has set a meeting with National Commission on Indigenous Peoples to resolve ground-level issue of area management.

“We would like to see how the IPs can assists us in protected management areas,” she said during the press conference.

Meanwhile, former Senator Edgardo Angara, who was also present during the press conference, suggested that the Congress crate an Omnibus Law on protected areas to set standards in area management and to set aside funds, if possible.

“We should decentralize protected area management and train local executives to handle protection of their heritage… The local community must feel that they are part,” he said.

Conservation vital to local economy

Likewise, the study opined that only a handful conservation efforts contribute to the local economy.

“Very few sites reported on how the PAs are contributing to the local economy especially in generating economic opportunities from ecotourism, supply of key ecosystems goods and services to the downstream areas, and PA-dependent livelihoods,” it said.

Lim noted that ecotourism should be promoted in protected areas for the site, so it may be self-sustaining in the long run.

And to strike a balance between biodiversity and tourism, Dr. Ernesto Guiang, the report’s author, noted that there should be innovation.

He, likewise, welcomed public-private partnerships and social enterprise ventures in making the most of protected areas without sacrificing biodiversity. — TJD, GMA News