{"id":5177,"date":"2020-02-10T04:00:35","date_gmt":"2020-02-10T04:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/?p=5177"},"modified":"2020-02-10T04:00:37","modified_gmt":"2020-02-10T04:00:37","slug":"why-biosecurity-is-important-for-wildlife-conservation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/why-biosecurity-is-important-for-wildlife-conservation\/","title":{"rendered":"Why \u2018biosecurity\u2019 is important for wildlife conservation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Gregg Yan<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fausto Novelozo, chief of the Taw\u2019buid tribe, exhales from his worn clay pipe. The sweet scent of wild tobacco envelopes the hut. \u201cIt was sickness that drove us down from the mountains. Measles we got from Tagalog visitors. Half our village of 200 died. The survivors moved here to be closer to civilization. Now we constantly need medicine.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re in Tamisan Dos<\/em>, one of two newly-established villages flanking a road which leads to the Iglit-Baco Natural Park in Occidental Mindoro. In their tongue, Taw\u2019buid means \u2018people from above\u2019 because they historically inhabited the island\u2019s mountainous interior. Fausto\u2019s people are highlanders no more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before we push deeper into the park, we leave the old chief some provisions \u2013 coffee, sugar, salt and a small bag of medicine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Danger of Disease<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When imagining threats to biodiversity, wildfires, logging, poaching and other visual activities are top-of-mind. But sometimes, the smallest beings do the most damage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Disease is a major killer of isolated tribes. In July of 1837, an American steamboat called the\u00a0Saint Peter<\/em>\u00a0infected the\u00a0Mandan<\/em>, a North American tribe of about 2000, with smallpox. Three months later, only 23 were left alive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIsolated communities are especially vulnerable to diseases from the outside world because immune responses have yet to be developed,\u201d says medical anthropologist\u00a0Dr. Gideon Lasco. \u201cLimited access to health care and fear of hospitals also keeps them from seeking treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\u00a0Taw\u2019buid<\/em>\u00a0are just one of many groups that the\u00a0Tamaraw Conservation Programme (TCP)\u00a0works with in their 40-year old bid to save the\u00a0tamaraw\u00a0(Bubalus mindorensis<\/em>), a well-known but critically-endangered buffalo found only in the Philippines. Like native tribes, the tamaraw is highly-vulnerable to disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dec<\/strong>ima<\/strong>ted by Ri<\/strong>nde<\/strong>rpest<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once, tamaraw grazed by the thousands. An estimated 10,000 inhabited Mindoro at the turn of the century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As now, Mindoro then had prime-pastureland \u2013 so good that ranchers imported thousands of cattle to the island. As grazing competition for the lowlands increased, ranchers started herding their cattle up mountains \u2013 the same ones occupied by tamaraw.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the 1930s, an outbreak of\u00a0rinderpest<\/strong>\u00a0took place. A deadly virus which kills 90% of what it infects, rinderpest laid waste not just to the population of farmed cattle, but wild tamaraw as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By 1969, numbers were estimated to have dropped under 100, prompting the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to declare the species as\u00a0critically endangered\u00a0\u2013 just one step above extinction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Decades of conservation led by the TCP, Biodiversity Management Bureau, Mounts Iglit-Baco Natural Park (MIBNP) and a host of allies including the Biodiversity Finance Initiative (BIOFIN) of the United Nations Development Programme and Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Mindoro Biodiversity Conservation Foundation Incorporated, D\u2019Aboville Foundation, Global Wildlife Conservation, World Wide Fund for Nature, Far Eastern University and Eco Explorations, have helped tamaraw numbers recover to around 600, confined to four isolated areas in Mindoro. All are vulnerable to disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBovine tuberculosis, hemosep and anthrax can enter Mindoro if we\u2019re not careful,\u201d explains\u00a0Dr. Mikko Angelo Reyes, a Mindoro-based veterinarian. \u201cThe key is\u00a0biosecurity, the prevention of disease through quarantine, inoculation and immunization. We should ensure that at the very least, animals entering the island are checked for sickness. We should also establish and respect buffer zones around protected areas, which are often rung by farms and livestock.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\u00a0Mounts Iglit-Baco Natural Park (MIBNP), a former game refuge turned into a protected area, spans 106,655 hectares. It is home to the Philippine brown deer (Rusa marianna<\/em>), Oliver\u2019s warty pig (Sus oliveri<\/em>) plus many other rare and endangered species. It also hosts 480 of the world\u2019s 600 remaining tamaraw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is also currently surrounded by 3000 cattle belonging to 30 ranchers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ra<\/strong>nge<\/strong>rs N<\/strong>ee<\/strong>d H<\/strong>el<\/strong>p<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Together, TCP and MIBNP rangers work to ward off invading cattle or heavily-armed poachers. They constantly dismantle spring-loaded balatik<\/em> and deadly silo<\/em> snare traps while discouraging the park\u2019s indigenous Taw\u2019buid and Buhid tribesfolk from engaging in slash-and-burn farming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s no easy task since the tribes must feed their growing families,\u201d says TCP head\u00a0Neil Anthony Del Mundo. \u201cAs their numbers swell, so do their requirements for space and food, which is why they\u2019re setting-up more traps, even inside core zones. This is a challenge faced by all protected areas inhabited by people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The life of a tamaraw ranger is fraught with difficulty \u2013 the risk is high, the pay low.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TCP was created to bolster tamaraw conservation efforts in 1979 through Executive Order 544. However, it was set-up as a special project instead of an office, so only its head is a regular employee with benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2018, TCP was allotted PHP4.2M for operations. This 2019, the budget was slashed to PHP3.3M, 75% of which goes to personnel salaries, leaving little for operational and field expenses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the fact that most rangers have put in an average of 10 years\u2019 service and stay in the field a month at a time, none of them get benefits despite years of dangerous fieldwork.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTCP must be institutionalized as an office to secure better pay, permanent tenure and government benefits for its hardworking rangers. Our tamaraw rangers go out against hunters armed with military-grade rifles. Communist rebels pass through the same places they patrol. Poisonous snakes, charging tamaraw, animal traps, dangerously-swollen rivers \u2026 every time our boys go out on patrol, one foot\u2019s already in the grave,\u201d adds\u00a0June Pineda<\/strong>, former TCP head and now a Community Environment and Natural Resources Officer (CENRO) based in Mindoro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To gather much-needed resources for TCP and various protected areas nationwide, BIOFIN is helping raise funds via bank account donations to Metrobank account number\u00a0750-001-5620<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA little help goes a long way. We ask fellow Pinoys to donate just a bit to save the tamaraw and the rangers keeping them alive and kicking,\u201d says BIOFIN Philippines project manager\u00a0Anabelle Plantilla. \u201cThrough their efforts and sacrifice, they have managed to grow tamaraw numbers from 100 to about 600.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since its inception in 2012, BIOFIN has worked with both the public and private sectors to enhance protection for the country\u2019s biodiversity hotspots by helping secure funds to implement sound biodiversity programs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Iglit-Baco Natural Park exists in a fragile balance. To keep its people, animals and ecosystems healthy, we all need to pitch in. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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