ILOILO City – A new law will strengthen the conservation of 97 ecologically “critical areas” in the country.
Republic Act 11038, or the Expanded National Integrated Protected Areas System Act of 2018, was approved on June 22.
Sen. Loren Legarda, principal author of the law, said it will enhance climate adaptation mechanisms and the conservation of the Philippine biodiversity.
Legarda said she actively pushed for the passage of the Act since 2013 to conserve under-protected ecological areas in the country.
“Although we already have the NIPAS Act of 1992, many important ecosystems remained under-protected, including open seas, coastal areas, wetlands, and tropical forests,” Legarda stressed.
The new law will pave the way for “a more extensive protection and effective preservation of the remaining under-protected areas in the country by giving more access to funding for protection programs as well as the prosecution of prohibited acts,” Legarda added.
Since 1992, 113 protected areas have been declared through presidential proclamations under the NIPAS Law.
However, only 13 areas were legislated as such in more than 20 years.
“The Philippines is one of the few countries blessed with very rich biological diversity. However, a large number of species – flora and fauna – have become extinct due to overexploitation, habitat loss and pollution,” said Legarda. “As we work towards achieving an economically and technologically competitive society, let us not neglect the health of our environment because these protected areas are crucial to the survival of men and all species alike.”
Meanwhile, to provide a guide in formulating individual plans for each of the protected areas, the new law mandates the creation of a Protected Area Management Plan for each of the 97 areas.
A Protected Area Management Board will also be made. It will be composed of local government units, environment officials, indigenous peoples representatives, academe, and civil society.
Moreover, Legarda said endangering the precarious situation of our country’s biodiversity is the challenge of climate change.
Among the projected impacts of climate change is the loss of thousands of species as well as changes in the natural ecosystem.
“The increasing loss of biodiversity is being attributed to development activities and land degradation, especially overgrazing and deforestation, as well as pollution, overfishing, hunting, infrastructure development, species invasion, land-use change, and the overuse of freshwater. Thus the conservation of our protected areas must be part of our climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts,” Legarda said.
She added that the passage of the new law is “just the beginning.”
“Now that we already have the legal mechanism to protect these critical areas and prevent biodiversity loss, the challenge for us is to ensure its strict implementation as well as promoting awareness on the importance of conserving biodiversity,” the senator stressed./PN
