24
July 2008
important, considering
the lack of detailed
information at the species
level such as population
sizes. Expert rankings
of the importance of
particular sites were used
in place of threshold
populations.
In March 2001, maps of
these important areas for
each taxa were overlaid to
identify areas of frequent
overlap or areas of special
importance to a particular
taxa (Stakeholders of
the SSME, et al., 2004).
Corridors linking the
different biogeographic
regions were identified as
priorities for conservation.
These were established
as priority conservation
areas (PCAs) for the
marine ecoregion and
included in the Ecoregion
Conservation Plan (ECP),
which was adopted
by the governments of
Indonesia, Malaysia and
the Philippines.
While the PCAs are not
expected to be fully-
protected, these are to
be managed and zoned
with fully-protected
areas. They address
fisheries and threatened
species concerns (e.g.,
marine turtles; dugongs;
whalesharks, etc.) since
these taxa were among
those considered in the
selection of PCAs. More
detailed planning and
zoning work, however, is
needed within each PCA.
Philippine Priorities
The Philippines is one of the 17
megadiversity countries in the
world. Its biological diversity
is under threat from habitat
destruction and overexploitation.
In 1997, the Department of
Environment and Natural Resources
(DENR) developed and adopted
the National Biodiversity Strategy
and Action Plan (NBSAP) in an
attempt to address the country’s
biodiversity crisis.
In 2000, a refinement of the
Figure 1. Integrated biodiversity conservation priority areas in the Philippines.
Image Source: CI-Philippines.
25
Tropical Coasts
national biodiversity plan was done
through the Philippine Biodiversity
Conservation Priority-Setting
Program (PBCPP). Drawing inputs
from more than 300 natural and
social scientists from about 100
local and international institutions,
government and nongovernmental
organizations, academia, peoples’
organizations, donors and the private
sector, the results of the PBCPP
represent the national consensus
on the priorities and strategies for
conserving Philippine biodiversity.
A total of 206 biodiversity
conservation priority areas were
identified, out of which, 170 are
terrestrial and 36 are marine
(Figure 1).
Five strategic actions needed to
address the biodiversity crisis
were identified to ensure that
conservation activities are to be
directed to the 206 PBCPP priority
areas (Ong, et al., 2002):
1. Harmonize research with
conservation needs;
2. Enhance and strengthen the
protected areas system;
3. Institutionalize innovative
and appropriate biodiversity
conservation approaches — the
Biodiversity corridors;
4. Institutionalize monitoring and
evaluation (M&E) systems of
projects and of biodiversity; and
5. Develop a national constituency
for biodiversity conservation in
the Philippines.
Refining Priority Sites
for Conservation in the
Philippines Using the KBA
Approach
Building on the results of the
PBCPP, the Key Biodiversity Areas
Table 1. Criteria and thresholds that were provisionally considered
appropriate for the identifi cation of marine KBAs (Edgar, et al.,
2008a).
Criterion
Sub-criterion
Provisional thresholds
for triggering KBA
status
Vulnerability
Regular occurrence of
a globally threatened
species (according to
the IUCN Red List) at
the site
Regular presence of
a single individual for
Critically Endangered
(CR) and Endangered
(EN) species; regular
presence of 30
individuals or 10 pairs for
Vulnerable species (VU)
Irreplaceability
Site holds X% of
a species’ global
population at any stage
of the species’ lifecycle
5% of the global
population at site
a. restricted-range
species
Species with a global
range less than 100,000
km
2
;
b. Species with
large but clumped
distributions
5% of the global
population at site
c. Globally significant
congregations
1% of global population
seasonally present at site
d. Globally significant
source populations
Site is responsible for
maintaining 1% of global
population
(KBA) approach (Eken, et al.,
2004) was employed to further
refine the terrestrial and marine
biodiversity priority areas in the
Philippines. KBAs are “sites of
global significance for biodiversity
conservation” which are identified
using widely accepted criteria and
thresholds (See Table 1) based
on the conservation planning
principles of vulnerability and
irreplaceability.
The identification and delineation
of terrestrial KBAs in the Philippines
utilized the 117 Important Bird
Areas (IBAs) previously identified
by Haribon Foundation and
Birdlife International and the 206
conservation priority areas of the
PBCPP (CI-DENR-Haribon, 2006).
Using the 2004 IUCN Red List as
the primary reference for the list
of globally threatened species, a
total of 128 KBAs were identified
for 209 globally threatened and
419 endemic species of freshwater
fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds
and mammals and 62 species of
congregatory birds. Only one third
(35%) of these KBAs are under
legal protection status. Areas that
are equally important but have no
data to satisfy KBA criteria were
designated as candidate KBA which
can be considered priority areas for
research. There are 51 candidate
terrestial KBAs identified for the
Philippines.
The KBA criteria which were applied
to terrestrial species needed
modifications to be applicable for
marine species (Table 1) (CI, 2008;
Edgar, et al., 2008a). Prior to its
application in the Philippines, initial
testing of the modified KBA criteria
was done in the Galapagos (Edgar,
et al., 2008b).
In 2008, the application of the KBAs
to marine areas in the Philippines