P R O F I L E
by Nick Ashton Jones, EU Co-Director, February 2000

The International Context

1. The Global Conservation of Biological Diversity in Terms of the Involvement of Local People is the international context within which NIPAP operates.

2. The Philippines is a Key Country for Global Conservation of Biological Diversity

For instance, in addition to Madagascar and Indonesia, the Philippines has the highest concentration of critical Endemic Bird Areas (EBAs) as defined by the International Council for Bird Preservation. EBAs are also important for plants and other animals and are considered to be critical for global biodiversity conservation.1

3. By International Convention, the Philippines has Legal Obligations to Conserve Biological Diversity

This arises from the country’s ratification of the Convention on Biological Diversity presented to the Rio Earth Summit in 19922. The convention has been signed by the Republic of the Philippines in addition to 154 other states and the European Union. Thus the Philippines agrees that it:

shall, in accordance with its particular conditions and capabilities, develop national strategies, plans or programmes for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity or adapt for this purpose existing strategies, plans or programmes which shall reflect, inter alia, the measures set out in this Convention relevant to the Contracting Party concerned.3

4. The Philippines Accepts the Concept of Conservation Through Participatory Resource Management and Environmental Protection as the Basis of Sustainable Development

Defined in Agenda 21 of the Rio Summit – not a treaty but a political statement of intention – which accepts that the:

integration of environment and development concerns and greater attention to them will lead to the fulfilment of basic needs, improved living standards for all, better protected and managed ecosystems and a safer, more prosperous future. No nation can achieve this on its own; but together we can – in a global partnership for sustainable development4.

In particular, Agenda 21 aims to encourage open government, involving local people, communities and NGOs in all aspects of environmental management, conservation and development.

In relation to conservation, specific chapters of Agenda 21 focus attention on: combating deforestation; managing fragile ecosystems – sustainable mountain development; promoting sustainable agriculture and rural development; conservation of biological diversity; and protection of the oceans, all kinds of seas, including enclosed and semi-enclosed seas, and coastal areas and the protection, rational use and development of their living resources.

5. Developed Countries are Bound to Provide Financial Support to Developing Countries to Help Conserve Biological Diversity

By the Convention:

developed country Parties shall provide new additional financial resources to enable developing countries to meet the agreed full incremental costs to them of implementing measures which fulfil the obligations of this Convention and to benefit from its provisions.5

This is supported in Agenda 21 which recognises that:

The development and environmental objectives . . . . . . . will require a substantial flow of new and additional financial resources to developing countries, in order to cover the incremental costs for the actions they have to undertake to deal with global environmental problems and to accelerate sustainable development.6

The Philippines context

1. The National Integrated Protected Areas System Act is the national context within which NIPAP operates.

In June 1992, the Philippine Congress passed the republic Act 7586, providing for the establishment and management of a National Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS) in order to:

Encompass outstandingly remarkable areas and biologically important public lands that are habitats of rare and endangered species of plants and animals, biogeographic zones and related ecosystems, whether terrestrial, wetland or marine, all of which shall be designated as “protected areas.”7

The act specifies the instruments required for the establishment and operationalisation of the System by the Department of the Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). Establishment involves thirteen specific steps beginning with Compilation of Maps and Technical Descriptions of Protected Areas (the first) through public participation processes and production of an Initial Protected Area Plan (the seventh step) to Presidential Proclamation, Congressional Action and Demarcation (the eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth steps respectively)8.

2. Involvement of  the European Aid Programme

In 1995 the Government of the Philippines (GoP) and the Commission of the European Communities (EC) signed a Financing Memorandum wherein both parties agree to contribute to the implementation of NIPAP. Subsequently NIPAP became operational with the signing of the Technical Assistance Contract between the two parties, covering a five-year period to September 2000. Financial contributions from the Government of the Philippines are Euro 1.7 million and from the European Union, ECU 11 million.

3. NIPAP Relationship to the Convention on Biological Diversity

NIPAP is a manifestation of the Convention on Biological Diversity. The GoP, on its part, and as the steward of a significant part of the planet’s biodiversity resources, has fulfilled part of its international obligations by establishing the instrument, in terms of the NIPAS Act, which can be used to protect biological diversity in the Philippines. The EC, on its part, has fulfilled part of its obligations, as a group of developed economies, by facilitating funding. 

Current Goal and Aims

1. The Goal

NIPAP’s goal is to contribute to the conservation, protection and management of natural habitats and biodiversity in the country's Integrated National Protected Areas System (NIPAS), by establishing effective protection and management of natural habitats and biodiversity in 8 NIPAS sites representing seven of the Philippines’ fifteen biogeographical zones.

2. The Original Eight Main Aims of the EU Funded NIPAP Project:

• To protect the biodiversity of each selected Protected Area (PA);

• To ensure sustainable management of each selected PA;

• Contribute to enforcing the NIPAS act;

• To enhance the capabilities of the DENR/PAWB staff and local communities so that they will be in a position to take over and maintain the policies and facilities introduced during the life of the project;

• To develop and maintain the ecological benefits that the protected areas provide to local communities;

• To increase the wise use of available natural resources (especially those of forest and coastal areas;

• To create a public awareness, both nationally and locally, of the need to protect the forest and  biodiversity; and

• To help ensure that rights of indigenous communities living in and around the PAs are respected and likewise that gender issues are given due attention in project planning and  implementation.

3. Two Supplementary Aims

• To emphasise a community-based sustainable protection strategy within the framework of the NIPAS Act); and

• To encourage and work closely with NGOs.

4. Priorities of the Current and Final Annual Work Plan to September 2000

• As defined by the NIPAS Act, no less than Presidential Proclamation for all  the eight sites and Congressional Action and Demarcation for the two sites which have already achieved Presidential Proclamation;

• Comprehensive General Management Plans as management tools for each of the eight sites. Also, the plans will be distilled into popular editions.

• Data Bases for each of the eight sites containing all of the primary and secondary data collected and processed by the project.

• The institutional strengthening of the PAMBs and all the ramifications arising therefrom, including an effective PAO and an operating Integrated Protected Area Fund;

• The completion of the capital infrastructure programme;

• A seamless phasing-in of current EU supported NIPAP Activities to post-EU/NIPAP Activities.

The NIPAP Sites

1. Coron Island

Located in North Palawan, the entire island and associated offshore waters have been designated as Ancestral Domain (R04-CADC-134). With the assistance of an NGO, the Tagbanua Foundation of Coron Island (TFCI) has produced its own Ancestral Domain Management Plan (ADMP). NIPAP’s policy is to facilitate implementation of the ADMP within the framework of the NIPAS law. The proposed protected area covers about 20,000 hectares.

2. El Nido Managed Resource Protected Area

Located in North Palawan, the El Nido Managed Resource Protected Area received Presidential Proclamation in October 1998 and NIPAP is working closely with all stakeholders to produce the GMP. Local support has increased dramatically in the past fifteen months, shifting from an aggressive opposition of some groups to universal endorsement. This improvement has arisen as the local community has become more involved in the NIPAS processes and has begun to see the planning, establishment and management of the PA as something, which it owns and can control.

The protected area covers about 89,140 hectares.

3. Malampaya Sound

Adjacent to El Nido, the future Protected Area of Malampaya Sound is by far the largest NIPAP site, covering about 170,500 hectares. In terms of biodiversity conservation, the Sound and some of the associated coastal waters are important because these are one of the few identified remaining habitats of endangered marine mammals.

In 1998 as a result of the mid-term review, Malampaya Sound dropped to a low priority rank. Later appraisals done by the Philippine Working Group and the NGO Environmental Science for Social Change (ESSC) stressed the need for enhanced protection of endangered species found in the sound and also of the severely threatened and significantly degraded fisheries resources. As a result of these assessments and in line with the GoP-EC Financing Memorandum, Malampaya Sound regained high priority in 1999. The Project Management contracted ESSC to prepare the General Management Plan.

4. Mt. Guiting-Guiting Natural Park

Located in Sibuyan Island in Romblon Province, Mt. Guiting-Guiting was proclaimed as a Natural Park in 1996 by President Fidel V. Ramos.

NIPAP works closely with Kabang Kalikasan ng Pilipinas (KKP/WWF), which is implementing a livelihood-oriented project, “Protecting the Biodiversity of Mt. Guiting-Guiting through the Development of Sustainable Livelihood Enterprises” with funding from The Netherlands Government. This project will continue until 2002 and, significantly, KKP/WWF is committed to support conservation activities in Mt. Guiting-Guiting beyond 2002.

The proposed protected area covers about 15,265 hectares.

5. Mt. Isarog National Park

Located in Camarines Sur and functioning as the main water-shed for Naga City, a number of NGOs has been working towards the conservation of Mt. Isarog National Park over the last decade. During 1999 NIPAP consolidated its co-ordination with these NGOs, with the DENR regional office and with other major stakeholders and has produced a comprehensive General Management Plan which has been approved by the Protected Area Management Board (PAMB).

The national park covers about 10,112 hectares.

6. Mt. Malindang National Park (Misamis Occidental)

Located in the province of Misamis Occidental, the Mt. Malindang National Park project is complex, involving 3 provinces, 17 municipalities and cities, over 50 barangays and major internationally funded aid projects for which it is the vital water-shed for over a million people. Nonetheless, the project has a good record of collaboration with all stakeholders, of being supported by the Governor and LGUs and being understood by a fairly wide constituency. This state of affairs is rooted in the local DENR structures and a well heeled and senior PASu who has worked in the area for twenty years and who is this respected by all.

The national park covers about 34,690 hectares.

7. Mt. Pulag National Park

Located in the three provinces of Benguet, Ifugao & Nueva Vizcaya, Mt. Pulag and its environs is recipient of several on-going projects. Aside from NIPAP, another EU-funded project (CASCADE) is supporting People/LGU-driven aimed at poverty-alleviation, covering the municipalities of Kabayan, within which much of the national park lies, Buguias and Bokod; the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) has declared the communities of Lusod and Tawangan, barangays adjacent and within the Park as Agrarian Reform Communities (ARC); in 1997, Kabayan Municipality was awarded a Certificate for Ancestral Domain Claim (CADC) and finalised a Ancestral Domain Management Plan in 1999; a second CADC has been issued by in favour of Indigenous People residing in Barangay Amlimay, Buguias, portions of which overlap with the CADC in Kabayan and the northern portions of the national park. Both CADCs are being studied for possible inclusion in the General Management Plan.

The park covers about 11,560 hectares.

8. Mts. Iglit-Baco National Park

Located on the island of Mindoro, Mts. Iglit-Baco is home to the endemic Tamaraw (Bubalus mindorensis). It is also home to other endemic plant and animal species and is considered as one of the richest sites in the country in terms of biological diversity. Mts. Iglit-Baco has been proclaimed as a National Park in November 1970 under Republic Act No. 6148. However, the area is also one of the most complex in terms of socio-economic-cultural diversity which poses a major obstacle in the efforts to initiate management measures for the conservation of its biological diversity.

Like Malampaya Sound, in 1998, as a result of the mid-term review, this project dropped to a low priority rank. However, this policy has since been reversed and NIPAP is now working hard to recover lost ground with the aim of producing a draft general management plan by the middle of 2000.

The national park covers about 75,445 hectares.