Defenders of one of last remaining old forests need our support
Defenders of one of last remaining old forests need our support
KALIBUTAN
By LEON DULCE
Bulatlat.com
MANILA – The 12,600-square kilometer Pantaron mountain range in Mindanao is home to one of the last remaining old growth or primary forests in this country. It has also been home to one of the longest and most courageous defence of its existence by the people living on it. This defence is ongoing, and it can flourish, as its forests, with our continued support.
Pantaron’s ecological importance is described best by University of the Philippines Mindanao professor Aya Ragragio. She called it a “biogeographic sub-sub region under the Greater Mindanao ecological zone, one of our few remaining biodiversity corridors with old growth forests that house rare species of flora and fauna,” where the headwaters of major Mindanao river systems are also located.
Pantaron is also the ancestral home and source of subsistence of various Lumad indigenous people’s communities, including the Manobos, Higaonons and Bukidnons.
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