[av_one_full first min_height=” vertical_alignment=” space=” custom_margin=” margin=’0px’ padding=’0px’ border=” border_color=” radius=’0px’ background_color=” src=” background_position=’top left’ background_repeat=’no-repeat’ animation=”]
[av_heading heading=’Ramsar Site declaration binding – DENR ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY TIFFANY ANNE TAN
[/av_heading]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”]
BACOLOD City – Communities surrounding the Negros Occidental Coastal Wetlands Conservation Area must help preserve the area once it is officially declared a Ramsar Site.
Ramsar Convention international delegates and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) were set to give 10 local government units Ramsar Site Certificates at the capitol on Oct. 20.
The province’s wetlands will be inaugurated as the seventh Ramsar Site in the Philippines and the first in Negros Island Region and Western Visayas.
All 10 local governments and their residents must conserve the wetlands and abide by local, national and international actions promoting their wise use, stressed Al O. Orolfo, DENR Region 18 director.
Negros Occidental’s wetlands were known for their rich and bio-diverse resources, including mangroves — they cover most of the area — and shellfish, and served as habitat for migratory birds, Orolfo said.
The 109.52-kilometer coastline covered 52 barangays in Bago, Himamaylan and Kabankalan cities and Pulupandan, Valladolid, San Enrique, Pontevedra, Hinigaran, Binalbagan, and Ilog towns.
Wetlands may be declared Ramsar Sites under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, an intergovernmental treaty that emphasizes the conservation and wise use of wetlands primarily as habitat for wildlife and source of livelihood.
The DENR-18 and the DENR-Negros Occidental filed the application for the Negros Occidental Coastal Wetlands Conservation Area to be declared a Ramsar Site.
Other Ramsar Sites in the Philippines were Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park, Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park, Naujan Lake, Las Piñas Parañaque Critical Habitat and Ecotourism Area, and Agusan Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary.
Among the criteria in declaring Ramsar Sites are as follows: considered internationally important for supporting vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered species or threatened ecological communities; considered internationally important for regularly supporting 20,000 or more water birds; and an important source of food for fish, spawning ground, nursery, and/or migration path on which fish stocks, either within the wetland or elsewhere, depend./PN
[/av_textblock]
[/av_one_full]
