Social Mediatization of Biodiversity: The Case of Mount Pulag National Park in the Northern Philippines

Introduction

On January 20, 2018, a butane stove being used by a group of mountain climbers accidentally exploded. In panic, the group fled, and fire raged near the mountain summit consuming around 5.9 hectares of grassland. This happened on Mount Pulag National Park, a key biodiversity area in the Northern Philippines.

For the most part, Mount Pulag gains public attention only when an accident happens in the locality such as when a tourist died of heart attack while camping in 2015, a helicopter crashing in the area in 2009, or fire occurring such as in 1998 and 2003. Because there is little opportunity to arouse the sentiment of people in biodiversity conservation, incidents such as the burning of Mount Pulag provide an arena for discussion.

The Philippines is one of the world’s 17 “megadiversity” countries (Conservation International et al, 2006). This means that along with the other 16 countries, it could collectively claim two-thirds of the earth’s biodiversity within its territory, having more than 20,000 endemic species of plants and animals. However, the country is also one of 34 global biodiversity hotspots, where the high biodiversity and endemism is under a high level of threat of loss and destruction (Conservation International et al., 2006).

Catibog-Sinha and Heaney (2006) noted that indiscriminate and excessive use of the country’s natural resources has resulted in rapid destruction. They further added that the root causes to biodiversity loss are the increasing demands for natural resources, failure of policy makers and market economy to provide appropriate valuation, and loss of incentives for communities to protect biodiversity.

Site conservation measures for biodiversity centers in the country are in place. “To effectively conserve biodiversity as a whole, we must ensure that conservation action focuses on its key components: on the individual species at the greatest risk of extinction, and on specific sites and landscapes that are most important for their protection” (Conservation International Philippines et al., 2006). And, one of these measures is the naming of protected areas such as that of the Mount Pulag which was officially declared a National Park by virtue of Presidential Proclamation 75, series of 1987 signed by President Corazon Aquino.

The Mount Pulag National Park is a priority conservation area in the Philippines. Fernando and Cereno wrote that the park is recognized as a:

• 1.

  Center of Plant Diversity in the Philippines, owing to its richness in plant species, large number of endemic species, and diverse range of habitats;

• 2.

  Priority Important Bird Area (PH004), supporting populations of many threatened birds, including most species restricted to montane habitats;

• 3.

  Biodiversity Conservation Priority Area, based on a combined assessment of plants, birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians, arthropods, and socio-economic pressure;

• 4.

  Key Biodiversity Area, based on the occurrence of one or more globally threatened species, i.e., Critically endangered (CR), Endangered (EN), or Vulnerable (VU), and presence of restricted range species or endemic species (2010).