Youth urged: Contribute in biodiversity conservation

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO --- Students from Pampanga were urged to contribute in biodiversity conservation and natural resources management.

The call was made during the recent Kilos Kabataan para sa Saribuhay [Biodiversity] forum organized by the Philippine Information Agency and Department of Environment and Natural Resources

(DENR) in Central Luzon.

The event was participated in by some 90 students from National University Clark, Holy Cross College-Pampanga, City College of San Fernando Pampanga, and Our Lady of Fatima University Pampanga Campus.

During the forum, DENR officials urged the youth to

lant trees and mangroves, participate in river and coastal cleanup and rehabilitation, and conserve energy and w at er.

The agency cited that Central Luzon makes a huge contribution to the country’s rich flora and fauna, like the Northern Sierra Madre forest monitor and the Philippine Eagle in Aurora.

The agency also cited the Rafflesia consueloae (the smallest among the giant Rafflesia flowers) habitat at the Pantabangan-Carranglan watershed in Nueva

Ecija; and the forests of Subic Bay and Bataan where the world’s largest bats including the giant golden crowned flying fox and the large flying fox are found.

The DENR also mentioned Mount Arayat, in Pampanga which is home to 49 species of trees and plants, 86 species of birds, 14 species of mammals, and 11 species of reptiles.

Another is Mount Tapulao in Zambales, the second largest mountain in Luzon, which has 305 species of plants and 141 species of animals, including seven insectivorous bats, three of which are endemic in the country including the yellowfaced horseshoe bat, large-eared horseshoe bat, and orange-fingered myotis.

The DENR highlighted the coasts of Bagac and Morong in Bataan, and the beaches of Aurora which are known nesting grounds of three out of five species of marine turtles (olive ridley, hawksbill, and green sea turtle) in the country.

13