Threats to Ecosystem:
The Philippines continues to experience an alarming rate of destruction of its important resources brought about by over exploitation, deforestation, land degradation, climate change, and pollution (including biological pollution), among others.
Forest cover has declined over the past years because of over exploitation and deforestation. Illegal logging and other illegal activities in forest has been identified as the major cause of forest cover loss. According to the data from the Forest Management Bureau (FMB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the Philippines is losing approximately 47,000 hectares of forest cover every year. In 2003, the country’s forests comprised 7.2 million hectares but in 2010 it went down to about 6.8 million hectares which is about 4.6 percent decline. The country is down to less than 24 percent of the original forest cover in the 1900s.
Palawan, the largest province in the Philippines in terms of land area, has the biggest forest cover in the country while the island province of Guimaras has the
To counter the problem, the Philippine government through the Forest Management Bureau and various non-government organizations has initiated programs to prevent continuous forest degradation such as the National Greening Program (NGP) and restoration activities are conducted in partnership with the local government units.
Threats to Wildlife Species:
The Philippines is considered as one of the world’s “biodiversity hotspot” with at least 700 threatened species thus making it one of the top global conservation areas. Based on reports of the number of illegal wildlife trade,the country’s ports has been a hub for Illegal wildlife trading.
The Philippines also has the highest number of threatened species per unit area in the world.
(Philippine Biodiversity Conservation Priorities: A second iteration of the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan, 2002).
In response to the threats, the Philippine government through the Department of Environment and Natural Resources established a national list of threatened faunal species in 2004 that includes 42 species of land mammals, 127 species of birds, 24 species of reptiles and 14 species of amphibians.
In 2007, an administrative order was issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources establishing a national list of threatened plant species, classifying 99 plant species as critically endangered, 187 as endangered, 176 vulnerable as well as 64 other threatened species.
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