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Save the Last Frontier of Biodiversity on Panay Island in the Philippines

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Project Overview

Hunting, timber poaching, and unsustainable farming practices threaten rare species found only on Panay and neighboring islands in the Philippines.

  • Species at Risk

    Negros Bleeding Heart (CR), Rufous-headed Hornbill (CR), Visayan Warty Pig (CR), Panay Monitor Lizard (EN), Panay Forest Frog (EN), Panay Crateromys (EN), Philippine Spotted Deer (EN)

  • Carbon stored

    13,873,230 mT *

    *(metric tons of CO2 equivalents)
  • Partner

    Haribon Foundation for the Conservation of Natural Resources

  • 170,000 Proposed Acres Conserved by

    Designation

  • Project Cost: $1,391,319
Philippines
Proposed Acres

170,000

Project Overview

Hunting, timber poaching, and unsustainable farming practices threaten rare species found only on Panay and neighboring islands in the Philippines.

  • Species at Risk

    Negros Bleeding Heart (CR), Rufous-headed Hornbill (CR), Visayan Warty Pig (CR), Panay Monitor Lizard (EN), Panay Forest Frog (EN), Panay Crateromys (EN), Philippine Spotted Deer (EN)

  • Carbon stored

    13,873,230 mT *

    *(metric tons of CO2 equivalents)
  • Partner

    Haribon Foundation for the Conservation of Natural Resources

  • 170,000 Proposed Acres Conserved by

    Designation

  • Project Cost: £1,113,055
Philippines
Proposed Acres

170,000

Historically, 90% of the Philippine archipelago was blanketed by rainforests, but only 3% of old-growth forest remains due to decades of logging and mining. The 7,641 Philippine islands have a uniquely high density of species due to the geographic isolation of natural communities, and many of the species that evolved here are found nowhere else in the world.

Panay Island belongs to a group of islands in the central Philippines known as the Visayas. The Central Panay Mountains hold the largest remaining forest block on the island in a “forest spine” extending north to south for over 65 miles through lowland forest to cloud forest to mountain peaks rising to nearly 7,000 feet. Despite its ecological importance, most of the mountain range is not protected and so is vulnerable to hunting, timber poaching, unsustainable farming practices, and other looming threats.

To connect the protected areas that do exist and safeguard a significant percentage of the global habitat of important threatened and endemic species, Rainforest Trust and our partner, Haribon Foundation for the Conservation of Natural Resources, are supporting the designation of 170,000 acres as the Central Panay Mountain Range Natural Park (similar to a National Park).

Header photo: Rufous-headed Hornbill, by David G. Quimpo/Haribon Foundation

Explore the Central Panay Mountain Range

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Visayan or Philippine Spotted Deer, courtesy of Behramkhan03

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Yellow-faced Flameback, courtesy of David G. Quimpo/Haribon Foundation

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Visayan Warty Pigs, courtesy of Gregg Yan/Wikimedia Commons

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Oriental Honey-buzzard, courtesy of David G. Quimpo/Haribon Foundation

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Project area, courtesy of David G. Quimpo/Haribon Foundation

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Rufous-headed Hornbill, courtesy of David G. Quimpo/Haribon Foundation

Only

3%

of old-growth forest remains on the Philippine archipelago.

Safeguard Range-restricted, Endemic Species of the Visayan Islands

Central Panay Mountains is one of two Key Biodiversity Areas located within Panay Island. The Central Panay Mountain KBA is home to threatened birds like the Rufous-headed Hornbill and Negros Bleeding Heart pigeon, both critically endangered as a result of habitat loss and the illegal wildlife trade.

Panay Island is one of only two islands where the endemic Critically Endangered Visayan Warty Pig still survives. This project will protect 18% of its global range and 24% of the global range of the Endangered Philippine Spotted Deer. Driven nearly to extinction by hunting and deforestation, large herds of deer that once roamed the Visayas are down to a mere few hundred individuals and limited to Panay and Negros islands.

Protect an Important Mountain Water Source for Indigenous and Local Communities

The watershed of the Central Panay Mountain region serves four surrounding provinces. Any titled Indigenous Ancestral Lands overlapping with the boundaries of the park will retain ownership and stewardship rights over their titled ancestral domain according to their traditional practices.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS PROJECT >>

 

 

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Conservation Action Fund
Conservation work is critical, challenging, and can be costly. We work hard to ensure we raise only the funds needed for each project. In the rare case we raise more money than needed or a project comes in under budget, excess monies will be transferred to the Conservation Action Fund. This fund supports our important conservation work throughout the tropics.

Project Modifications
Rainforest Trust conducts extensive research and due diligence on each of the projects that we support, so that once a project is offered for public support we believe it will succeed. We work closely with our project implementers, offer support, and regularly monitor their progress. Given the nature of the work, projects may not progress exactly as intended and may be unable to meet all objectives. To respond dynamically to the needs of our project implementers and the realities of the landscapes in which they operate, Rainforest Trust expressly reserves the right to modify a project as it deems necessary, provided that donor intent is honored by ensuring that that the original project objectives are diligently pursued and that project funds continue to benefit the landscape and species identified in the project overview. Project modifications that we may need to make in certain circumstances include the specific project implementer, the size of the landscape to be protected, the type of protection to be afforded to the landscape, and the development of sustainability mechanisms.

Partnering to Save Rainforest

Our partners’ ability to work with their governments and build strong connections with local communities ensures the successful implementation of our projects.

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