South Negros Occidental Declared ‘Wetlands of International Importance’

Bacolod City (PNA) — Negros Occidental has been declared an area with “wetlands of international importance,” making the province the seventh Ramsar site in the Philippines.

In rites held at the Capitol Social Hall here Monday, Dr. Vincent Hilomen, executive director for Priority Program-Biodiversity Management Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), read the formal declaration, citing the more than 80,000 hectares of wetlands in southern Negros.

The area spans along the 110-kilometer strip from Bago City to Ilog town that serves as home to over 100,000 migratory shorebirds every year.

The unveiling of the declaration coincided with the observance of the World Wetlands Day on February 2.

The rites was led by Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr., who was joined by former Gov. Rafael Coscolluela; Provincial Environment and Management Office head Wilfred Ramon Penalosa; Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Officer Andres Untal; and DENR OIC-Regional Technical Director for Protected Areas Conrado Marquez.

The governor welcomed the citation accorded to the province’s campaign to protect the migratory birds’ natural habitat, adding that it heightened as well the value of the local government in the areas of ecotourism protection and ecosystem protection.

The declaration will attract more tourists to southern Negros areas, he said.

Marañon acknowledged those involved in the documentation since 2012, including the Philippine Biodiversity Conservation Foundation Inc., the Negros Occidental Coastal Wetlands Area Management Alliance (NOCWAMA), PEMO and the DENR, among others, whose completion of the process led to the declaration of the province with “wetlands of international importance.”

The whole strip, which covers Bago City, Pulupandan, Valladolid, San Enrique, Pontevedra, Hinigaran, Binalbagan, Himamaylan, Kabankalan City and Ilog, is the path of at least 79 bird species migrating from Siberia, China and Australia.

“The biodiversity value and tourism potentials of these areas present a lot of opportunities for us. It is incumbent upon us as leaders to, therefore, respond to the challenge of protecting these sites and by convincing our people to also do their share,” Marañon told the audience that included NOCWAMA members and environment officers coming from the 10 local government units.

The six sites in the country earlier declared “wetlands of international importance” are Agusan Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary in Agusan del Norte, the Tubattaha Reefs Natural Park and Puerto Princesa Subterranean River Natural Park, both in Palawan; Olango Island Wildlife Sanctuary in Cebu, Naujan Lake National Park in Oriental Mindoro, and the Las Pinas-Paranaque Critical Habitat and Ecotourism Area, Marquez said.

February 2 is observed as the World Wetlands Day to mark the date of the adoption of the Convention on Wetlands in 1971 in the Iranian city of Ramsar, located on the shores of the Caspian Sea.

The CoW is an inter-governmental treaty that provides the framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and use of wetlands and their resources. (PNA) FPV/NLG