The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) on Tuesday inaugurated the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park as a “wetland of international importance” under the Ramsar Convention.

In his keynote address during the Ramsar site inauguration of PPSRNP, Environment Secretary Ramon Paje said that recognition given by the Swiss-based convention would provide a big boost to tourism in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan province, as well as national pride.

“The Puerto Princesa Underground River has earned its rightful place as an unending source of national pride and a top drawer of tourists,” Paje said.

PPSRNP is the fifth Ramsar site in the Philippines after Agusan Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary in Mindanao, Naujan Lake National Park in Oriental Mindoro province, Olango Island Wildlife Santuary in Cebu City and Tubbataha Reefs National Park in Palawan—which were all included in the 1999 list.

Paje explained that the five Philippine wetlands have made it to the Ramsar site because of its ecological, botanical, zoological, limnological or hydrological importance.

The Ramsar convention cited PPSRNP as “unique in the biographic region” for it connects a range of important ecosystems from the mountain-to-sea, including a limestone karst landscape with a complex cave system, mangrove evergreen tropical rainfo-rests and freshwater swamps.