Stakeholders renew appeals to declare Dinagat Islands as protected areas

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SURIGAO CITY – Officials of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources ( DENR), the lone congressional district of the Province of Dinagat Islands (PDI) and local government units (LGUs) renewed their appeal to declare ten areas of that province as ‘protected’ areas to avert destruction of the environment.

The officials recommended 10 conservation areas such as Panamaon Watershed – 259.79 hectares (ha.), Esperanza Watershed – 413.25 ha., Loreto Watershed – 692.74 ha., Mt. Cambiliw-Mt. Redondo – 458.10 has., Tubajon Watershed – 3,320.76 ha., Paragua Forest Reserve – 1,380.19 ha., Mt. Palhi – 1,234.40 ha., Manoligao Watershed – 1,719.73 ha., Cuarenta Watershed – 163.73 ha., and Western Dinagat Ecotourism Area – 105,154.65 ha.

In terms of biodiversity and being an island ecosystem, PDI possesses high rate of endemism of species (flora and fauna). It is home to 100 bird species and 400 plant species with at least 20 International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) globally threatened and Philippine threatened species of vertebrates and 13 IUCN globally threatened and Philippine threatened species of plants in which most of these are endemic to the Philippines and confined only in Mindanao faunal region.

Officials of the DENR- 13 led by Regional Executive Director Nonito M. Tamayo and LGUs of PDI led by Rep. Arlene “Kaka” Bag-ao are working hard for the exclusion of a total of 114,797.34 hectares of PDI from Presidential Proclamation 391 for the 10 conservation areas of the province.

The entire PDI is proclaimed as a mineral reserve through Presidential Proclamation 391 dated March 13, 1939. About 85% or 68, 620.52 hectares of its land have Mining Tenements putting the province at the risk to forest degradation and destruction of watersheds, scarcity of water resources, air pollution and siltation in the near future. This is where the issue of balancing national priorities with sustainable practices and environmental protection in the use of these resources comes into the picture.

Some mining operations are already within the recommended "protected and conserved" areas.

PDI is part of the Philippine Archipelago situated in the Pacific “Ring of Fire” which is vulnerable to climate change and prone to natural disasters such as earthquakes, typhoons and tsunami. Ecological value of terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems of Dinagat Islands provide important natural resources necessary for the economies and cultures of the communities to survive such as sustainable clean and potable water supply from watersheds.

RED Tamayo said there is a need to delineate 10 ecological areas as conservation areas of PDI. “The mining industry in Dinagat affects the balance between mining and biodiversity conservation. Mining, however, is part of the solution, we are all part of the solution because only by working together can we effectively protect and conserve our environment,” he said.

There are at least 18, 256.67 hectares of terrestrial areas including more than 200 small islands and islets and 96,540.67 hectares of marine areas in PDI, he said.

Meanwhile, the Dinagat Conservation Program ( DCP) was conceived by the stakeholders in an effort to respond to the growing and pressing challenge faced by the island and its people. The challenges which include food and water security, human health and well-being, disaster risk reduction, and climate change are aggravated by the fact that the whole island is a declared mineral reservation.