The Philippines officially launched Mt. Inayawan Range Natural Park in Lanao del Norte province in Northern Mindanao as an ASEAN Heritage Park last month. Last year, Pasonanca Natural Park in Zamboanga City, a highly urbanized city in the southwestern most tip of the Zamboanga Peninsula in Western Mindanao was also declared as a heritage park in Southeast Asia.
ASEAN Heritage Parks are protected areas of high conservation importance to the region. These parks encompass terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems that support endemic and endangered flora and fauna.
The Philippines now has 11 heritage parks. Eight of them are in Mindanao, and Laguna, Mindoro, and Palawan have one each.
Mindanao and Palawan are part of the BIMP-EAGA subregion, which now has 15 ASEAN Heritage Parks.
Primary and largest rainforest
The ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB), which is the secretariat of the ASEAN Heritage Park Program, describes Mt. Inayawan park as the “last forest bastion” in Lanao del Norte. It is the only remaining primary forest and the largest rainforest dominated by dipterocarp species, and it contains a high diversity of flora and fauna.
According to Global Forest Watch, primary forests are “some of the densest, wildest, and most ecologically significant forests on Earth.”
The park is also considered as the primary water source of surrounding and nearby communities and municipalities and as a source of irrigation and potable water of Kapatagan Valley, the rice granary of Lanao del Norte. It is home to the indigenous people of Maranao, also known as “People of the Lake.”
Environmental stewardship
“Mt. Inayawan’s forests and biodiversity are still intact; hence it is now an AHP (ASEAN Heritage Park). This will give the Maranao people an increased sense of deep pride and responsibility to further protect and preserve it,” said park superintendent Ismail C. Ambola.
Some of the endemic species found in the park are the endangered Pinsker’s hawk eagle (Nisaetus pinskeri), the critically endangered Philippine eagle, the vulnerable tree species Magkono (Xanthostemon verdugonianus), and the Philippine Flying lemur (Cynocephalus volans).
“We commend the support of all stakeholders, particularly the Provincial Government of Lanao del Norte and the local government of Nunungan in the participatory governance of the park contributing to its sustainable protected area management,” said Dr. Arvin C. Diesmos, ACB senior director.
Since its establishment in 1984, the ASEAN Heritage Park Program has declared 55 protected areas. These heritage sites are biologically rich parks and nature reserves that serve as models of effective protected area management and conservation.