Candaba Wetlands – The Visiting Birds Are Dwindling. So Are The Resident Fish!
(webinar image[1] from Eaaflyway.net)
The webinar was in partnership with the Biodiversity Management Bureau, BMB, of the Department of Environment & Natural Resources, DENR; Ecosystem Research & Development Bureau, DENR; DENR Region 3; and Pampanga State Agricultural University. The outcome, as reported by ANN, was a recommendation to formulate a management policy and establish a multi-stakeholder body to manage the Candaba Wetlands.
I did not realize that marshlands are important absorbers of carbon, sequestering more than virgin forests area by area. Director Crisanta Marlene Rodriguez of the BMB says (Jonathan L Mayuga, 11 January 2020, “Saving Candaba Swamp,” BusinessMirror.com.ph): “Peatlands, mangrove swamps and seagrass beds, in particular, are the world’s most effective carbon sinks.”
Candaba Wetlands or Marsh is 60 km north of Manila and covers 32,000 ha, roughly the size of Antipolo City (Gregg Yan, 22 April 2020, “Groups, Gov’t Partners Tap Farmers To Save Candaba Wetlands[2],” Inquirer.net). It serves 3 purposes:
1, For Bird Watching
“Candaba Marsh once hosted hundreds of thousands of birds,” says Mike Lu, founding President of Wild Bird Club ot the Philippines. In 1982, there were 7,000 birds recorded; this year, only 2,188 birds belonging to 16 species were observed. The main reason is that Candaba Wetlands is slowly being converted for purposes of agriculture or industry.
2, For fishing
Fish “come” with the rains. Farmer Gaudencio De Leon says, “When the rains come in June, we become fisherfolk. We use nets to catch tilapia, marteniko, gourami, even janitor fish.”
3, For preventing floods
As if a giant sponge, Candaba Marsh has long been absorbing excess rainwater, which eases flooding of the area. However, possibly because of continued land conversion, the Pampanga river basin was flooded 43 times from 1994 to 2006.
For all those reasons above, to (1) augment the income of farmers, (2) conserve the wetlands of Candaba, and (3) save the birds, the SCPW and its partners, particularly the Ramsar Regional Center-East Asia, the Department of Tourism, Department of Agriculture, and Department of Environment & Natural Resources are developing a community-based initiative.
When the above is realized, farmer De Leon says, “We can earn extra while ensuring that more Filipinos will keep enjoying the sights and sounds of Candaba.”
Development can be the enemy of conservation if not regulated.
Mr Yan says that recently, a conservation group and some government agencies came up with a community-based initiative “to transform a portion of the marsh into a bird-watching haven, with farmers trained as guides.”
“In terms of management, our underrated wetlands have enjoyed limited conservation priority,” says Miss Crisanta. “They provide habitats for many creatures while generating food and water for millions of people. In many ways, wetlands are the earth’s kidneys, filtering and purifying water.”
We have to conserve the Candaba Wetlands!@517
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