HOW does one save an island? Buy it or protect it. Better yet, teach people about biodiversity and appreciate the intrinsic value of a healthy ecology.
This sums up the success story and continuing advocacy of the people behind Negros Occidental’s Danjugan Island Sanctuary, an island paradise once threatened by destructive human activities but was saved by nature-lovers-turned conservation advocates.
Private protected area
The island—where wildlife thrives under the protection and care of Philippine Reef and Rainforest Conservation Foundation Inc. (PRRCFI), a not-for-profit organization established for the Philippine Reef and Rainforest Project (PRRP) of World Land Conservation Trust—is perhaps, the first private protected area in the country. The PRRCFI was established to save the island, initially to serve as campsite for a group of divers who were mesmerized by Negros Occidental’s diving spots, but later on became the foundation’s platform to train future conservation advocates.
Today, the Danjugan Island Sanctuary operates outside the management regime under Republic Act 7586, or the National Integrated Protected Areas System (Nipas) Act of 1992, a law that seeks to protect wildlife and their natural habitat against destructive human activities. There are 240 protected areas covered by Nipas Act with a total of over 5 million hectares of public land or domain, the management of which are governed by Protected Areas Management Boards, composed of representatives of the concerned local government units (LGUs), including provincial, city or municipal, barangay units, other national government agencies involved in environmental protection and at least three community members belonging to local people’s organizations (POs) or non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
Unlike these protected areas, Danjugan Island, is managed by the private PRRCFI with only a handful of its staff as its protectors and caretakers. Situated in the town of Cauayan, Negros Occidental, Danjugan Island is 1.5-kilometer (km) long, and 0.5 km at the widest point. It is less than 20 minutes away via motorized banca from the main island that is surrounded with fishing barangays.
A welcome initiative
Director Theresa Mundita Lim, head of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ (DENR) Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB), said private sector help and support in protecting the environment and the country’s rich biodiversity is always a welcome development.
Lim said protection mechanisms and management regimes put in place vary depending on the status of the biodiversity-rich area.
She cited the case of areas covered by certificate of ancestral domain titles, or owned by LGUs and under the care of NGOs and POs, or private individuals with land-tenure rights issued by the DENR.
DENR-BMB, an agency mandated to oversee the management of protected areas, protect and conserve biodiversity, encourages partnership between and among stakeholders, to protect areas with unique features and biological importance. “We welcome initiatives to protect and conserve biodiversity, and we are willing to partner and provide support to institutions for that matter,” Lim said.
Animal and fish sanctuary
The 43-hectare island and its surrounding waters teem with animal wildlife and lush forest vegetation. It is surrounded with beach and mangrove forests and has a diverse species of healthy corals, which remains intact for fishes to breed on.
With at least 72 bird species having been recorded on the island so far, including a pair of White-breasted Sea Eagles (heliatus leucogaster), the island is ideal for bird watching.
According to the PRRCFI, at least 17 species of mangroves, 572 fish species belonging to 139 genera, 244 species of hard corals, eight species of seagrasses and 74 species of macroalgae have been recorded on the island and its surrounding waters.
With its small, white beaches and pristine waters, the island is perfect for swimming, boating or kayaking, snorkeling and diving, or simply enjoy peace and tranquility of nature.
Environment friendly
A fortunate few may have had the privilege of visiting the island, whose facilities are designed to ensure environmental sustainability—or what nature offers like the cool breeze for ventilation, sunlight to illuminate structures at daytime, the use of two solar panels at night and harvesting rainwater. Most structures on the island are built on stilts, and bigger-than-usual windows that allow fresh air and light to come in.
In the absence of rain during the summer, PRRCFI’s staff members fetch water from the main island for visitors’ use during camp season.
A maximum of 32 visitors are allowed to stay on the island at a time, owing to the maximum capacity of facilities, in order to minimize environmental impact.
Threats and solutions
Once threatened by activities like hunting wildlife and illegal fishing, the island and its surrounding waters is now protected by a local law, the Cauayan Municipal Ordinance 99-52 of 2000, which created the Danjugan Island Marine Reserve and Sanctuaries with three Special Management Areas or No-take Zones. However, Leo Albao, PRRCFI manager, said Danjugan remains under constant threat because of destructive human activities. He said through activities involving various stakeholders, including LGUs, communities in Cauayan’s coastal barangays, POs, NGOs and like-minded individuals, they are able to keep the island safe and hope to make it a model for biodiversity conservation.
Fishermen said commercial fishing boats continue to “raid” Cauayan’s municipal fishing ground, where the Danjugan Island’s No-take Zones also sit.
Some fishermen in Cauayan and other nearby towns still use cyanide and dynamite, threatening to damage the marine ecosystems.
Partnership with organizations
PRRCFI is working in partnership with people’s organizations in Cauayan to help protect the island against destructive fishing and other activities. It facilitates alternative livelihood for people living near the island’s coastal barangays.
Mary Ann Cordilla, president of the Caliling Environment-friendly Production Association, said PRRCFI is a big help to its 47 members, who, besides earning extra income from planting mangroves under a program funded by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), is now engaged in raising crabs under the Philippine National Aquaculture Program.
The group’s small cage for crabs is on Danjugan Island which income augments their earnings from fishing and mangrove planting.
Randy Quezon, president of Linahon Sustenance Fishing Association, said their group also benefit from the Danjugan’s conservation.
He said the corals and mangroves around the island provide a healthy breeding ground and protection for small fishes, allowing the fish stocks in Cauayan’s municipal fishing ground to flourish.
The group, which also plant mangroves for BFAR’s program, said the healthy mangrove forests they help maintain become a good source of fishes, such as gusaw, sapsap and crabs locally called kasag. He said they no longer have to go in open seas for bigger catch.
Albao also said the PRRCFI continues to struggle to educate the people to change their destructive way of life and protect Danjugan, as well as other islands from destructive activities.
“We want to teach the people, especially the children, the importance of protecting the marine environment,” Albao said. PRFCI’s two major programs focus on marine ecosystem education, information and communications.
Tourists, future conservation advocates
The PRRCFI allows visitors to come and stay on the island through the annual Marine and Wildlife Camps, and the Danjugan Island Environmental Education Program (DEEP).
The annual camps, a pioneering initiative of PRRCFI, started in 1991. It offers young people aged 13 to 17 an opportunity to stay on the island to experience, learn and appreciate nature, particularly the marine ecosystem and wildlife.
More than a thousand campers have had the privilege of exploring the island since the summer camp was offered. “We are happy to know that some of the campers have been touched by their stay on the island. Some of them promised to pursue college education and take up marine biology to help us,” Albao said.
“What normally are not taught in schools are taught on the island’s learning center,” Albao added.
He explained that besides learning the scientific names of species, campers are taught about its nature and the role each species play in the ecosystem.
“That way, we can teach them to become future conservationists,” he said.
DEEP appreciation
Funded by the Foundation of the Philippine Environment (FPE), DEEP started in 2011 to support the summer camp. It seeks to address the constraints to marine and wildlife conservation that haunt most parts of the country by engaging educational institutions.
DEEP camps, which usually take three to five days, involve campers, including teachers and students, who live and have fun on the island while learning about marine biodiversity, inculcating in the students a deep appreciation of what nature has to offer. Albao said summer camps teach about biodiversity conservation, sustainable development, climate change to students and teachers of schools in the towns of Cauayan, Sipalay and Hinobaan.
The program’s successful implementation prompted FPE to consider another grant for DEEP, extending and expanding the project’s scope and coverage, including enhanced partnership with various national government agencies and LGUs in Negros Occidental, academic and scientific community, for research and scientific exploration and studies to boost efforts to save other areas in Negros from destruction. “We hope that someday, their [campers] experience on the island will encourage them to become conservation advocates,” Albao said.
Activities by campers include boat riding, cayaking and snorkeling. Participants are also asked to identify or at least draw an image of the fish and other species they found. Youth campers are allowed to take a tour in some parts of the island through the eco-pathwalk that leads from one lagoon to another and one beach to next and ends in a watch tower that reveals the beauty of the island and surroundings.
In between is a path that leads to a small cave inhabited by about 5,000 fruit bats, which are important in maintaining a healthy forest. Teaching people, Albao said, is a strategy of PRRCFI on Danjugan Island to encourage the youth to appreciate Negros Occidental’s marine biodiversity more and one day become part of the growing number of environment-conscious people.
For PRRCFI, buying an island, protecting it and using it to teach people about the value of having a healthy ecology is tested and proven way of saving an island.
Image credits: Foundation for the Philippine Environment