PHILIPPINE CLEARING HOUSE MECHANISM

Overview: The Philippines is considered a mega-diversity country rivaled only by a few countries in the world when it comes to variety of ecosystems, species and genetic resources. Many of the island comprising the archipelago are believed to have a very high degree of land and animal species endemism covering at least 25 genera of plants and 50% of terrestrial wildlife. The country hosts more than 52,177 described species, of which more than half is found nowhere else in the world. On a per unit area basis, the Philippines probably harbors more diversity of life than any other country on the planet. Understanding the impact and threat of human activities to the natural environment particularly the effect of increasing population, resource exploitation and industrial advancement and recognizing the critical importance of protecting and maintaining the natural biological and physical diversities of public lands that are habitats of rare and endangered species of plants and animals, biogeographic zones and related ecosystems, the Philippine government provided by the Constitution established the comprehensive system of integrated protected areas or the National Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS).