BACOLOD City – Participants from various countries visited the Negros Occidental Coastal Wetlands Conservation Area (NOCWCA) – the seventh Ramsar site of the Philippines located in southern Negros – as part of the 2nd East Asian-Australasian Flyway (EAAF) Congress on Research and Development for Wetlands and Migratory Waterbirds.
The 2nd EAAF Congress drew around 200 delegates from countries such as Russia, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, the United States of America, Cambodia, Japan, and Pakistan.
“The Philippines, as part of the EAAF, believes in the importance of international collaboration as impetus for conservation of migratory birds,” Environment secretary Roy Cimatu said in his message delivered by assistant secretary for field operations Jim Sampulna here on Tuesday.
Cimatu has pushed for an international collaboration on the conservation of migratory waterbirds in the Philippines which has seven sites designated as “wetlands of international importance” or Ramsar sites – a habitat to thousands of migratory birds from over 80 species, which visit the country every year.
The NOCWCA spans an almost 110-km. stretch of coastline along nine municipalities and a city.
It is habitat to around 72 species of waterbirds, including the globally-threatened Far Eastern Curlew, the Nordmann’s Greenshank and the critically-endangered Spoonbilled Piper.
Cimatu said over 70 other wetlands in the country continuously serve as a haven to more than 300,000 birds during the southward bird migration season.
Six other sites declared as “wetlands of international importance” in the country are the Tubattaha Reefs Natural Park and Puerto Princesa Subterranean River Natural Park, both in Palawan; Agusan Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary in Agusan del Norte; Naujan Lake National Park in Oriental Mindoro; Olango Island Wildlife Sanctuary in Cebu; and the Las Piñas-Parañaque Critical Habitat and Ecotourism Area.
The three-day gathering, which was led by the Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, ended on Thursday.
The EAAF, a route that supports migratory birds, is home to more than 50-million waterbirds from over 250 different populations, including 32 globally threatened and 19 near-threatened species.(With a report from PNA/PN)
