Post by admin on Jun 7, 2014 2:32:03 GMT 8
Greater public awareness on Philippine eagle sought
Ellalyn De Vera
June 4, 2014
Government and private sectors’ conservation efforts for the critically endangered Philippine eagle have paid off but more has to be done to protect its remaining population, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said.
DENR Secretary Ramon Paje said this year’s celebration of the 16th Philippine Eagle Week on June 4-10 urges the public to have greater awareness on the importance of the endangered bird species that is endemic to the country.
“Nurturing this unique heritage found only in this part of the world is a gift of the Filipino people to the global community,” Paje said.
He said efforts to conserve the Philippine eagle have helped add three birds to the eagle’s population last December, providing a glimmer of hope for the national bird.
With an estimated population of no more than 500 hundred pairs in the wild, it remains to be one of the most critically endangered birds in the world.
Paje said the Regional Eagle Watch Teams in Regions 9 and 11 of the DENR discovered one at the Mt. Apo Natural Park in Davao Oriental and reported the birth of two new eagles in Linay, Zamboanga del Norte and Midsalip, Zamboanga del Sur, respectively, last December.
“In the midst of the government efforts to restore our dwindling forests, the presence of these birds boosts our hope of achieving a thriving forest ecosystem and a constant reminder that wildlife can co-exist harmoniously with humans,” Paje pointed out.
DENR-Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB) Director Theresa Mundita Lim also lauded government partners whose efforts to help save the Philippine eagle from extinction has been encouraging.
Lim said the most welcome surprise was the recent documentation of a family of three eagles at Mt. Mingan in Gabaldon, Nueva Ecija by the Haribon Foundation after a sighting of a juvenile was first reported by a group of botanists in February 2014.
She disclosed that a plan is being hatched by the DENR, Haribon and the local government of Gabaldon to intensify the protection of Mt. Mingan in order to ensure the perpetuity of the eagles as well as the mountain’s bountiful streams that water the town’s farmlands.
Lim also cited the sightings of the eagle on Leyte Island in February 2013, which led the Institute of Biology of the University of the Philippines-Diliman and the Philippine Eagle Foundation to conclude the existence of the Philippine eagle on the island where the raptor was once thought to have been extinct.
The BMB chief also assured that the bureau remains steadfast in saving the remaining habitats of the Philippine eagle, many of which are already being managed as protected areas.
“We are continually surveying areas critical for the survival of the Philippine eagle and other threatened species to be conserved in partnership with local government units and the communities,” she added.
Acclaimed as one of the treasures of the Philippine wild, the national bird is the largest eagle in the world. With its height of one meter and a wing span of two meters, the Philippine eagle reigns supreme in the tropical forest as a top predator. A pair of this majestic bird occupies 7,000 to 13,000 hectares of forest territory.
The annual celebration of the Philippine Eagle Week is mandated through Presidential Proclamation No. 79 issued in 1999.
Source: www.mb.com.ph/greater-public-awareness-on-philippine-eagle-sought/