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Between 2002 and 2006, Haribon implemented a forest conservation
project supported by the European Commission and BirdLife
International in Sablayan, Occidental Mindoro. With the active
participation of the local government and the Sablayan Penal and
Prison Farm (SPPF), forest conservation was integrated into the
local planning process. Recently, BirdLife commissioned Karin
Eberhardt to evaluate the project and this is her story.
In the past, some people were reluctant to enter
the forest because they were afraid of running into prisoners. Now
trained prisoners serve as forest guides in Siburan, able to find
and identify birds for visitors, and guests sleep in a
specially-built bungalow set on a broad lawn against the forest
backdrop on the prison grounds.
Covering about 1,500 hectares, Siburan is the
largest tract of intact lowland rainforest on Mindoro Island.
Mindoro Island has been designated by BirdLife International as one
of the world’s 12 most critical Endemic Bird Areas. Of the six
bird species endemic to Mindoro Island, five are globally
threatened, including the Mindoro Bleeding Heart Pigeon.
Enter Super Yoyong, Superintendent of SPPF and
super-hero of the Mindoro Bleeding Heart. Mario (Yoyong) Trasmonte
is tough enough to manage over 1,300 low, medium and high security
risk inmates and staff, and a penal farm with four subprisons in the
Siburan Important Biodiversity Area, but a soft spot for endemic
birds. The Mindoro Bleeding Heart Pigeon would have to fly far
across the waters to find a custodian more committed than him.
This has not always been the case. Before his
conservation conversion, like many other people living in and around
the forest, Super Yoyong too would occasionally snare birds
which—in addition to illegal logging, charcoal-making, and
clearing patches for agriculture—constituted the primary threat to
the species and their habitat. Then one day he invited a visiting
ornithologist into his backyard to identify the birds caged there.
He soon learned the value of the Mindoro Bleeding Heart Pigeon—as
well as the exact body measurements and sexes of those three lucky
birds, which he helped the ornithologist measure before setting them
free. He also learned that the pigeon is named for the way the red
spot on its chest seems to bleed when the bird struts and puffs its
feathers out—“I saw it with my own eyes,” he says, his gaze
softening behind his glasses.
Soon after Super Yoyong’s change of heart
Haribon came to work in Sablayan, and by a stroke of luck,
then-Assistant Superintendent Trasmonte was assigned by his boss to
work with them on behalf of the prison. Through working with Haribon,
Super Yoyong caught a chronic case of conservation fever, which he
now passes on to all those around him. When he became superintendent
in 2004, he ordered prisoners and employees to desist from snaring
and hunting, or risk punishment. “Haribon has changed the hearts
and minds of our penal farm. In the past we all did
anti-environmental activities, but no longer. I want that all my
prisoners and staff become conservationalists!” he declares.
What have been the concrete results of these
changes in hearts and minds? Super reports that logging and other
illegal activities in the farm are down about 90% from about 10
years ago. The prison farm now works with the DENR to conduct joint
forest patrols with teams of prisoners, prison guards and forest
guards on a regular basis. In case of any irregularities, such as
smoke in the forest or freshly-cut tree stumps, they are prepared to
respond immediately. The teams have already referred two cases of
infraction to the police for prosecution—one of illegal logging
and another of clearing forest for agriculture. Since the patrols
and referrals, illegal activities have dramatically decreased.
Haribon capitalized on the decentralization of
the Philippine government to build governance capacity of the
“developed” LGUs while injecting a dose of conservation. Working
with the DENR, municipal LGU, SPPF, and the barangays, Haribon
started by conservation awareness-raising campaigns and
disseminating educational materials, then went on to provide
training in ecology, environmental law, and planning and management
of forest, along with governance. To help build networks and broaden
horizons of what was possible, Haribon sent staff and partners to
conferences and arranged for cross-visits to other sites. Haribon
believes that the key to successful conservation efforts in making
people realize that there is something in it for them.
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