Mount Apo Foundation, Inc.

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The Mount Apo Natural Park is a remarkable Philippine landmark of great beauty. Its wilderness value was first recognized by then President Manuel L. Quezon who issued Proclamation 59 establishing Mount Apo as a national park. In 1982, it landed in the United Nations List of National Parks and Equivalent Reservations and in 1984, became one of the ten ASEAN Heritage Sites.

The Stakeholders

The park falls under the territorial jurisdiction of the Municipalities of Makilala, Kidapawan and Magpet of North Cotabato in Region 12 and the Municipalities of Bansalan, Digos and Sta. Crz in Davao del Sur and the City of Davao in Region 11.

Under the National Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS) of 1992, the administration and management of the natural park is exercised by the Protected Area Management Board (PAMB). The Board promulgates the rules and regulations to promote biodiversity conservation and sustainable development in the natural park. It plans, implements and evaluates all activities inside the natural park in accordance with the General Planning Strategy (GMPS) prepared by the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau (PAWB) of the DENR.

The Protected Area Management Board is composed of the DENR Regional Executive Director as chair, local government units, tribal communities and non-government organizations. The members come from the Province of North Cotabato and the municipalities of Makilala, Kidapawan and Magpet; the Province of Davao del Sur and the towns of Bansalan, Digos and Sta. Cruz; and the City of Davao. The non-government organizations in the Board include the Kapwa Upliftment Foundation, Inc., Philippine Eagle Foundation, Inc., Legal Rights Center-KSK, KInaiyahan Foundation, Inc. and the Mindanao Environment Forum which are all based in Region 11. Those from Region 12 are the Mount Apo Foundation, Inc. (MAFI), the Sinabadal Katigatunan Ka Sandawa (SKS), the Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement (PRRM) and the Apo Sandawa. The Philippine National Oil Company-Energy Development Corporation (PNOC-EDC) which manages a geothermal reservation within Mt. Apo is also a member-agency.

Biodiversity Initiatives

Through the years, the Mt. Apo Natural Park has been a favorite destination of mountain climbers and nature lovers. Scientists, plant enthusiasts and academicians have also appreciated its immense scientific and educational value owing to the park’s high biodiversity, endemism and unique ecosystems. Being the natural habitat of the threatened Philippine Eagle has also made it famous.

On the other hand, the Mount Apo Natural Park has also been subject to destructive uses that have severely compromised the ecology. Almost 50 per cent of the park’s area has been converted into agricultural production. Extensive illegal logging operations, indiscriminate extraction of non-timber forest products like rattan, wildlife poaching and even ranching have further eroded the pristine ecological value of the area.

Delineation of Boundaries and Management Zoning

Sound management for the conservation of biodiversity can best be implemented when the boundaries are well defined and delineated on the ground. There are plans to establish such boundary demarcations which will then become the basis for future site development regimes. Under NIPAS, the strategy is to divide the natural park into zones with 30,000 hectares designated as strict protection zone, 26,000 hectares as a managed reserve zone, and 7,800 hectares for built-in areas. This would facilitate management of the nature park taking into account the need to regulate access in a way that would enhance its watershed value, preserve its unique ecosystems and genetic diversity, and provide for the settlement needs of the tribes. A further conservation measure is to establish a ten kilometer buffer zone as social fence against encroachers.

Resource Assessment

Biological surveys and inventories are the necessary starting point of any attempt at biodiversity conservation. Surveys will establish what species exist, the genetic variations among them, and the unique assemblages in the area. These studies could also provide knowledge as to the dynamics of organisms in terms of abundance, distribution and patterns of occurrence in the landscape – both natural and man-made. Such baseline data for Mount Apo will be useful for monitoring changes in biodiversity when development projects are undertaken in the area.

Studies done on the Philippine Eagle by the Philippine Eagle Foundation, Inc. have contributed to an understanding of the raptor and other wildlife species in the natural park as well as other features of biodiversity in the area.

A further contribution to the growing body of knowledge on Mount Apo is the pioneering study done on the characterization of the biodiversity of the 701-hectare geothermal reservation entrusted to the Philippine National Oil Company through its Energy Development Corporation. Such biological surveys and inventories (PNOC, 1992; Dames and Moore, 1994) have been undertaken as part of the environmental impact assessment for its planned geothermal plant within the Mount Apo Natural Park. The EIA study has yielded inventories of both flora and fauna within the geothermal reserve. It is significant to note that some of these inventories are the first records of their kind in the Mount Apo area. The findings of the study became the basis for developing conservation measures for some of the organisms in the inventory.

Resource Protection/Habitat Preservation

The most obvious way to conserve biodiversity whether be it in the form of genes, species or populations is to prevent the destruction of habitats. This presents a serious challenge to stakeholders inasmuch as pressure on the environment is largely brought about by man’s activities.

The stakeholders, acting as change agents, have initiated community-based resource management strategies with the following common features: community organizing, alternative livelihood, enhancement of farm productivity using new and sustainable farming technologies and cropping systems. The objective is to reduce consumptive pressures on forest resources.

The communities in the project area are organized as the focal point of all biodiversity management endeavors. The communities go through some kind of social preparation to allow them to take part in all phases of the project – from planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. This process ensures that the project reflects the values, culture and concerns of the affected communities and thus ensure acceptability of the project by the host community.

A natural growth for organized communities is towards the formation of cooperatives for enterprise development. Earnings from cooperatives complement the farmers’ income while extra funds generated go to capital buildup. Experience points to the wide appeal of well-packaged alternative livelihood projects in weaning people from dependency on forest resources. Main target of these livelihood projects are slash-and-burn farmers who would normally engage in short-term and highly exploitative forest resource use.

Community participation was a key factor in the success of the habitat management project of the Philippine Eagle Foundation, Inc. (PEFI). Initially, the local community was taught the nature and value of the Philippine Eagle and the need to preserve the habitat that would propagate the species. Armed with such knowledge, young people were recruited and given further training to help in the conservation crusade of PEFI. They were to investigate known nest sites, territories and potential habitats, undertake locating the nests, observing, monitoring and gathering data. Alongside this new conservation ethic, the communities are presented the opportunity to pursue livelihood projects as an alternative to exploiting the forest resources.

The Southern Mindanao Agricultural Programme (SMAP), a special project of the Department of Agriculture, is doing a remarkable conservation project in the southern slopes of Mount Apo (Zone II). Funded by a grant from the Commission of European Communities, project SMAP has a triple thrust: improvement of indigenous and upland agricultural technologies to increase the productivity of arable open areas; preservation of marginal forests and restoration of tree cover; and reinforcing upland commitment to and unified action for rational ecosystems management.

SMAP’s participative approach is centered on quick-acting micro-projects which involve inputs from the program proponent, the community, local governments, government organizations, academe and other special projects of similar nature. The SMAP process is a development framework for communities to learn skills in harnessing, managing and sustaining development resources. The experience is expected to result in self-reliant and sustainable development values and lifestyles in target communities.

The PNOC Geothermal Project has its own social forestry program on Mount Apo. It is designed to enhance the social and economic conditions of people living in and dependent on the geothermal reservation lands and resources for their livelihood. There are now some 20 organized communities implementing agro-forestry in the geothermal reserve. These communities also engage in other micro enterprises and welfare funds which effectively keep the population away from destructive forest land uses. In effect, they have built a strong social fence that has protected the natural park from further intrusions.

In addition to managing the watersheds, PNOC works to maintain genetic diversity by transplanting affected valuable species or by ensuring that similar species are found in nearby similar habitats. Steps have been taken to profile the plant and animal species within the geothermal reservation in various representative habitats to add to the growing literature on the subject. Other operational measures support biodiversity. In many instances, the Company has avoided clear-cuttings to keep the natural corridors for the migration of animals and for the unhampered dispersion of seeds and other propagules. The cutting of forest trees has also been minimized with the adoption of directional drilling and multi-wellpad drilling which limit fragmentation of the forests. Voluntary replacement through reforestation is done in any cleared area. Further, PNOC-EDC maintains intensive forest patrols within the geothermal reservation to prevent illegal logging. This augments the natural resources protection being carried out by the various DENR field units.

The community-based approach appears to be the strategy best suited for the protection and conservation of habitats in the Mount Apo Natural Park. The experience of the different stakeholders with the participatory approach could prove invaluable in perfecting mechanisms for generating options and building consensus.

Habitat Restoration of Degraded Ecosystems

Mount Apo had been subjected to some heavy resource damage including a recent fire that devastated a large area near Lake Venado in the northern part of the summit. Restoration of destroyed habitats thus forms an important aspect of biodiversity concerns. It flows from the thinking put forth by the Board of Science and Technology for International Development which states that “restoration allows us to see in the degraded lands not just a past failure to conserve, but a future opportunity to conserve – to rebuild biological diversity for its own sake and for the benefit of the people whose livelihood depend on it.” (BOSTID, 1992).

The reforestation of all open areas within the natural park has been a standard feature of the stakeholders’ project activity. The DENR has its tree-planting activities and its contract reforestation program has been availed of by a great number of organizations in Mount Apo, including the different local government units.

The Mount Apo Foundation, Inc. (MAF) has its Mount Apo Restoration Project involving 80 hectares of denuded areas in Bongolanon, MAgpet. The Municipality of Kidapawan is reforesting 35 hectares within the natural park. In almost all of these undertakings, the use of indigenous tree species has been encouraged.

The Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement (PRRM) in North Cotabato is undertaking a natural resource management project in the uplands of Makilala. It is concerned with the rehabilitation and conservation of forests and water resources in their so-called sustainable rural districts. With technical assistance provided by PRRM, a communal forest nursery has been established and is being maintained by the Sta. Cruz Farmers’ Organization which has also adopted the Sloping agricultural land technology (SALT) in their corn and banana communal farms. The Luna Norte Barangay Water Association is undertaking Malasila Riverbank Reforestation Project and has also established a forest nursery in the process.

The PNOC Geothermal Project has undertaken the rehabilitation of the burned area near Lake Venado largely using the indigenous tinikaran (Leptospermum flavescens) and almaciga (Agathis philippinensis) as primary species.

In all of the artificial forest regeneration activities of the PNOC Geothermal Project, forest nurseries have been established and are being maintained. These nurseries make use of seeds and wildlings in producing planting stocks, thus ensuring that local genotypes are preserved.

Institutional Development/Capability Building

Implicit in the effective conservation of biological resources is having the basic knowledge and skills to deal with the technical aspects of biodiversity management and the institutional processes attendant to its operation. Thus capability building among communities has been an area of concern to the stakeholders.

The focus has been to make upland dwellers and organized communities within and near Mount Apo to be capable of self-direction. They are thus trained in the techniques of organization development and institutional accountability to make them more effective partners in biodiversity conservation.

This was the case with the MAFI where members of the Cotabato Tribal Consultative Council and the Indangan Tribal Cooperative were given formal training on organization development and management, preparation of project proposals and sustainable forest management.

The PRRM, with the Sta. Cruz Farmers’ Organization, provided training on forest nursery establishment and maintenance, project development and management. Farmers were also taught new technologies such as sloping agricultural land technology, multiple cropping and integrated farming of high value crops with livestock and poultry raising.

Participation in the micro projects of SMAP serves as training grounds in managing finances, leadership and management skills development. This approach has also given birth to the so-called farmer-paratechnicians (e.g., paraveterinarians) who provide primary technical services in the communities. These people make up the core group for a community-based extension services delivery system. Moreover, the farmer-to-farmer training approach has provided local governments with the technical expertise to disseminate sound upland agricultural practices.

Information, Education and Communication Programs

The popularity of Mount Apo as an eco-tourist destination has been capitalized on by stakeholders in promoting public awareness for biodiversity. Members of the Mount Apo Natural Park PAMB have embarked on vigorous programs designed to generate interest on the nature park and its environs.

The Province of North Cotabato takes advantage of the annual trek season to disseminate information on the natural park. These materials exhort trekkers to value our biological resources and to refrain from acts inimical to the ecosystem.

The Municipality of Kidapawan deploys porters during the trek season. Trained by the Municipal Tourism Council, these porters carry out information drive among visitors to the Mount Apo Natural Park.

In partnership with a local non-government organization, SMAP conducts soil and water conservation seminars to promote environmental values among the grassroots.

MAFI, on the other hand, held a Conservation Forum to instill awareness among tribal leaders and officials of barangays within and adjacent to the park.

En route to the Mount Apo Natural Park, the PNOC Geothermal Project cooperates with the Kidapawan Tourism Council and the local DENR by offering a tree for planting as registration fee and a corresponding tree-planting certificate. The PNOC undertakes the maintenance of the planted trees after the tourist season.

Conclusion

Against widespread disturbance, we have seen the rise of individuals and organizations who have taken concrete steps to minimize further damage to Mount Apo Natural Park. This is a trend that is steadily growing. Positive developments would hopefully sustain this effort. So far, policies and mechanisms exist where concerns can be constructively worked out. There is also greater vigilance among the public to ensure that development activities factor in the costs and concerns to preserve what is left of this precious national heritage.