Strengthening Palawan's conservation advocacy and governance initiatives

The project will address enhancing the conservation status of the Mt. Mantaligahan Protected Landscape (MMPL) in Palawan province of the Philippines in the face of increasing pressures from mining interests. Even though the local government units of the main municipalities within the area along with local conservation groups have complied with the mandatory requirements to declare MMPL as a protected area, the Department of Environment and Natural Resource’s (DENR), Mines Geosciences Bureau (MGB) is trying to exclude the mineral rich 44.000 hectares portion of the MMPL from any conservation status. This is in spite of the existing Strategic Environmental Plan (SEP) for Palawan and the Palawan zonation strategy termed the ‘Environmentally Critical Areas Network” (ECAN). The SEP mandates the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD) to manage utilisation of resources of the province through implementation of the ECAN as a strategy. The province of Palawan accounts for nearly 19% of the plant families of the Philippines and 39% of the wildlife species with an endemicity of 5%. It also has the stock of the largest remaining natural forests in the country and accounts for 40% of the mangroves and 82% of the coral species. In 1991, it was declared as a UNESCO Man and Biosphere (MAB) Reserve on account of its biological richness and cultural diversity significance. The proposed MMPL project area is a proposed protected area identified as one of the 17 Key Biodiversity Areas of the province. The majority of the populations residing in this area are indigenous peoples holding certificates of ancestral domains. The overarching goal of the project is to “establish the effective conservation and protection of forests, watersheds, critical habitats and endangered wildlife and to ensure cultural survival of the indigenous peoples within the key biodiversity areas in Palawan”. This is to be achieved through the following outlined objectives: passage of legislation declaring MMPL as a protected area; pro-actively engaging existing multiparty bodies such as ECAN in effective implementation of policies and programmes to conserve Palawan’s forests; and enabling indigenous communities to participate in development planning, policy formulation and monitoring actions.