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| ==[[Southern Leyte News]]== | | ==[[Southern Leyte News]]== |
| '''Mt. Nacolod needs protection''' | | '''Leyte allocates P300K to combat crown of thorns starfish explosion''' |
| *Source: http://leytesamardaily.net/2012/03/mt-nacolod-needs-protection/ | | *Source: http://pia.gov.ph/news/index.php?menu=2&webregion=R08&article=1281331539444 |
| *SATURDAY MARCH 10TH 2012 | | *Tuesday 13th of March 2012 |
| :by Sarwell Q. Meniano | | :by Erna S. Gorne |
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| TACLOBAN CITY – Southern Leyte’s Mt. Nacolod is being pushed as one of the new conservation areas in the country and there’s a need to protect of its 14,000 hectares forested terrain, believed to be home of several endangered birds.
| | MAASIN CITY, Southern Leyte, March 13 (PIA) -- The Southern Leyte Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (PDRRMC) allocated P 300,000 for the acquisition of spear guns that would get rid of the crown of thorns starfish (COTS) multiplying out of control throughout the province. |
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| Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) regional chief of the protected areas and wildlife division George Guillermo revealed that there’s an ongoing assessment in the area since last year to find out the biological and physical characteristics of wildlife as well as areas in the terrain occupied by people.
| | “The provincial government considered the overpopulation of COTS as a natural disaster that threatens the marine life in the province,“ Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Management Office (PENRMO) - Coastal Fisheries Resource Management Office (CFRMO) Eva Abad reported to PIA. |
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| “This mountain range is critical to biodiversity conservation. This is categorized as New Conservation Areas Project in the Philippines (NewCAPP). Although it’s lower in category compared to existing protected areas, but not in terms of quality,” Guillermo told Leyte Samar Daily Express.
| | “These equipment are needed to inject sodium bisulfate into the COTS located in the deep seas, to kill them,” she said. |
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| The official said they are hoping to complete the assessment this year and it will be declared as conservation area next year. The study and consultation is being carried out by DENR, German Agency for International Cooperation and several local government units and non-government organizations.
| | On the other hand, COTS found along the shallow waters can be manually extracted with the use of bamboo sticks; however, it should be done with technical guidance, Abad said. |
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| Basic activity under the project is the biodiversity assessment, to determine the extent of plant and animal species in the area for conservation and protection. The flora and fauna survey is being done by the Fauna and Flora International (FFI) and will be completed June 2012.
| | Abad reported that COTS teem in Padre Burgos where a number of divers extracted some 60,000 COTs at one time, while along the shorelines of Barangay Mantahan, Maasin City thousands of COTS were also exterminated. |
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| At 1,007 meters above sea level, Mt. Nacolod straddles the municipalities of Silago, Saint Bernard, Libagon and Hinunangan all in Southern Leyte, has been picked as one of the nine pilot sites in the country for the New CAPP.
| | Meanwhile, the provincial government will spearheaded at least three major initiatives of COTS massive extraction: on March 15-22 in time for the World Water Day celebration, on March 31 during the Earth Hour observation, and another synchronized COTS collection on April 22 throughout the province, Abad disclosed. |
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| NewCAPP aims to expand and strengthen the terrestrial protected areas system in the Philippines by developing a new protected area conservation model and build capacity for effective management of the system supported by improved systematic and institutional capacities.
| | The Sogod Bay Sustainable Marine Management Alliance (SBSMMA) will work together in the combat of excessive growth of COTS to include the provision of reading materials for wider information dissemination about the problem, Abad said. (PIA8 SoLeyte) |
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| The result of the survey, Guillermo said, can properly guide authorities in planning for appropriate conservation strategies in the area.
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| According to the DENR, several threatened and restricted-range species of the Mindanao and Eastern Visayas Endemic Bird Areas have been recorded in Southern Leyte, and are likely to occur in the remaining forests on Mt. Nacolod. These include the critically endangered Philippine Eagle Pithecophaga jefferyi, Mindanao Bleeding-heart Gallicolumba crinigera, Philippine Eagle-owl Bubo philippensis, Silvery Kingfisher Alcedo argentata, Samar hornbill Penelopides samarensis, among others.
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| Mt. Nacolod is a municipal watershed supplying water to the surrounding towns. The two significant forests on the mountain are the Buac Watershed Forest Reserve and the Hinabian-Lawigan Watershed Reservation.
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| The mountain range originally covered 18,688 ha of forestland. It was declared a Forest Reserve on 25 November 1966 by Proclamation No. 121.
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| ==Photo Gallery of Southern Leyte, Philippines== | | ==Photo Gallery of Southern Leyte, Philippines== |