PHILIPPINES

Described by the Convention on Biological Diversity as “one of the top global conservation areas”, the Philippines is a Southeast Asian archipelago state of over 110 million people and one of the Earth’s few megadiverse countries.

The rainforests, volcanic valleys, mangroves and coral reefs that cover the nation’s 7,000+ islands are home to an estimated 50,000+ species, over half of which are found nowhere else. Much of that life is of global conservation importance: Philippine flora, for example, is extraordinarily rich (only four other countries harbour more plant species) and endemic (25 plant genera are found only here).

85% of the Philippines’ amphibians and 67.5% of its reptiles are only known from within its borders, as are 61.1% of its mammals – such as the Tamaraw water buffalo – and 34.8% of its birds, from the Philippine Eagle (Critically Endangered) to the two species of Rufous Hornbill (both Vulnerable), known as the “clock-of-the-mountains” by virtue of their honking calls. There is also the well-documented and staggering diversity of marine life, helped along by the country’s position in the Coral Triangle.

Unfortunately, evidence shows that at least 700 of the Philippines’ species are threatened with extinction, while the country’s deforestation rates have at times ranked among the world’s fastest in recent decades. There is much conservation work that can still be done to save the flora and fauna of the Philippines, and in 1994 WLT supporters played a small but important part in this mission, joining an alliance for the protection of Danjugan Island.