By April M. Meir
LEGAZPI CITY, April 27 (PNA) — The Mayon Volcano Natural Park (MVNP) in Albay has been included in the World Heritage Sites List of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) recommended for nomination in the final list.
Albay Governor Joey Salceda told the Philippines News Agency Monday that this is based on the list released in the UNESCO website in March.
Kurt Zepeda, local historian of the Provincial Tourism Cultural Affairs Office, said they are now preparing the needed documents for the nomination.
“We are working for the papers that would prove the efforts of the province in the conservation and protection of biological diversity,” he said.
Zepeda said the documents include the history of the eruption of the volcano and specific details of each of the living animals.
Salceda said this would add to their efforts of promoting the tourism industry of Albay, especially with its natural resources.
“It’s been a three-year labor of love for the province for both culture and arts as heritage, on one hand, and for environment as biosphere reserve, on the other hand,” he said.
Imelda Baltazar, Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office head, also said the MVNP is now in the list recommended for nomination for the World Heritage Site and will undergo evaluation.
“If it could pass with the criteria for selection, then it would be declared as the World Heritage Site,” she said in a text message.
Among the ten criteria, MVNP must be justified through the Criterion (vii): Contains superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance and Criterion (x): Contains the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity, including those threatened species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation — as stated in the Unesco website.
Declared by Presidential Proclamation No. 413 as a protected area in June 2000, the MVNP is the home of threatened species, plants and other wildlife.
It is the nesting and feeding area 37 endemic birds such as Luzon Bleeding Heart, vulnerable Philippine Eagle-Owl and critically-endangered Philippine Cockatoo, reads the Philippines’ description of the mountain range on the Unesco World Heritage Site’s tentative list.
At least 10 endemic frog species with four listed in the International Union for Conservation of Nature red list — including the nearly-threatened Luzon Fanged Frog, Luzon Forest Ground Frog and Guenther’s Forest Frog and the vulnerable Banded Pigmy Tree Frog — also live in the area.
It also houses one endemic butterfly, seven endemic stick-insects and nine endemic spiders in the registered insect and arachnid fauna.
Currently, the Philippine has six sites in the World Heritage List, including the Baroque Churches of the Philippines, Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park, Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras, Historic Town of Vigan, Puerto-Princesa Subterranean River National Park and Mount Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary.
Sites inscribed in the World Heritage List benefit from the implementation of a comprehensive management plan for preservation measures and monitoring mechanisms and from experts offer for technical training to the local site management team, the UNESCO said in its website.
Department of Tourism Bicol Regional Director Maria “Nini” Ravanilla, at this early, is expecting a massive influx of visitors that would boost the tourism industry of Bicol.
“A well-deserved title, just in case. It’s a realization of every Albayano’s dream. Mayon Volcano is our pride, our heritage. She is a living witness to our beautiful story, how we survived the challenges and molded us to what we are today — resilient, brave, self-determined,” she said.
Mayon Volcano, known for its perfect cone shape, is one of the active volcanoes in the Philippines which covers a total area of 5,775.70 hectares, straddling the six towns and three cities within the province and encompassing a large number of habitat types.
Situated in the southern part of the main island of Luzon, 500 kilometers south of Manila, it towers at a height of 2,462 meters above sea level.
Having erupted for over 51 times in the past four centuries, the most destructive of which was in 1814 when five towns in its periphery were destroyed.
Nevertheless, it has developed a culture of resiliency among the inhabitants in its vicinity, who always rebuilt their towns and cultivated their fields after each destructive eruption.
Mayon Volcano was believed by the pre-hispanic Bicolanos to be the abode of their ancestors and, thus, its confines were subjected to taboo, including violation of its natural resources and even climbing its peak.
It was also held as the sacred mountain of both the deities Mayong and Gugurang, the supreme god of Bicolano animist beliefs. (PNA)