At least 11 rare Philippine frog species are dying out fast because of rapid environmental degradation, according to former sen. Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri, convenor of Pilipinas Ecowarriors.

The frogs had just been added to the Philippines’ official list of “threatened” species and tagged either vulnerable or endangered, Zubiri said.

He identified them, based on their common names, as the Mindanao fanged frog, Mindoro tree frog, Hazel’s forest frog, Gigante Island limestone frog, Lawton’s forest frog, Negros forest tree frog, Polillo Island forest tree frog, Rabor’s forest frog, Negros limestone frog, Mt. Data cloud frog and Taylor’s Igorot frog.

“This is very unfortunate because most if not all of these frogs are found only in the Philippines. The decline of these extraordinary frogs indicates that our ecosystems are being polluted much faster than previously thought,” Zubiri said.

Ecologists have agreed that frogs are among the most excellent indicators of ecological health, he added.

“Since frogs breathe and drink through their skin, they are directly exposed to their surroundings, whether these are forests, mountain streams, fast-flowing rivers, lakes and ponds,” he pointed out.

The former senator said that the invasion of foreign frog species carrying the highly infections amphibian chytrid fungus may also be contributing to the collapse of some local frogs.

The fungus attacks the skin of frogs and destroys their ability to “drink” water and absorb vital salts.

Frogs play a crucially important role in the maze of life and in the food chain. They prey on insects, including mosquitoes, as wells as pests such as locusts that could possibly damage crops.

Species are officially tagged “threatened” once their habitats have suffered extreme depletion and their populations have shrunk to a level below which the species, or subspecies will be totally extinct.

Threatened species are further sub-classified either as vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered.

Zubiri renewed his proposal for “highly focused conservation efforts at the provincial level” to look after threatened species and safeguard local biodiversity.