Busa Mountain Range News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Mining and logging threaten a wildlife wonderland on a Philippine mountain Mount Busa on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao is among the most biodiverse and most threatened ecological areas in the country. It’s a key biodiversity area and a known bird conservation area, considered one of the last remaining strongholds of the critically endangered and nationally important Philippine eagle (Phitecophaga jefferyi). Despite its ecological importance, the mountain has enjoyed little protection, with only the topmost slopes falling under a local conservation zone. To protect the area, env...

It’s well known that the Philippines is a biodiversity hotspot, its 7641 islands holding a vast array of flora and fauna, many yet unrecorded, all of them rapidly disappearing. But despite this being common knowledge, the importance of this doesn’t usually hit home until a new species is discovered.

Yvette Natalie Tan The Busa Mountain Range (BMR) straddles the provinces of Sarangani and South Cotabato in southern Mindanao. According to Kier Mitchel E. Pitogo, resident wildlife biologist and project development officer of the PASu AVPL, “it is one of the last remaining primary forests in the region.” A primary forest is a forest whose ecology hasn’t been disturbed by human activity and thus, contains flora and fauna native to the region. Pitologo recently assisted Aljohn Jay Saavedra, resident botanist and Forest Extension Officer of the Protected Area Superintendent office of the ...