NINETEEN officials of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) are taking part in a three-day Experiential Learning Program in Hanoi, Vietnam, to learn best practices in the park management of protected areas. The study tour organized by the Asean Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) kicked off last week.
The participants to the study are park managers from different regional offices of the DENR.
In a statement, ACB Executive Director Roberto V. Oliva said the participants would learn good practices through interactions with local communities in Vietnam’s Hoang Lien Sa Pa National Park, one of Southeast Asia’s 35 Asean Heritage Parks.
During the study tour, officials from Vietnam’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the Hoang Lien Sa Pa National Park will share with their Filipino counterparts good practices on how to best manage protected areas, ecotourism and biodiversity conservation. Designed to encourage sharing of experiences and good practices among Asean member-states, the study tour will expose participants on recreation tourism and ecotourism management, promote cooperation and networking among practitioners on recreation, tourism and ecotourism management.
The participants from the Philippines are expected to prepare action plans that will be implemented in their respective regional offices and nature parks when they return from the study tour, Director Theresa Mundita S. Lim of the DENR’s Biodiversity Management Bureau said. A flagship initiative of ACB, the study tour aims to promote effective management of protected areas, which Oliva said, offers an ecosystems approach in biodiversity conservation.
“Our focus is taking care of our protected areas and nature parks, which means taking care of the habitats of living things. Then we protect their habitats or ecosystems, we ensure the continuous supply of ecosystem services that we need for our well-being and survival. When we protect our ecosystems, we protect the species that live in them, thus, preventing extinction,” Oliva said.
He said the program is one of Asean’s contributions to the attainment of Aichi Target 11, which states that by 2020, at least 17 percent of terrestrial and inland water, and 10 percent of coastal and marine areas, especially areas of particular importance for biodiversity and ecosystem services, are conserved through effectively and equitably managed, ecologically representative and well-connected systems of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures, and integrated into the wider landscapes and seascapes. There are currently 240 Protected Areas in the Philippines.