Negros Rainforest Conservation Project: current activities
Added to website: 05 August 2006
The North Negros Rainforest Conservation (NRCP) resumed its work in January of this year following a short break of two months. Situated in the North Negros National Park (NNNP) the project continues its work using trained volunteers (both local and from the U.K.) to collect baseline biodiversity data and to carry out field-based research to support the captive-breeding programmes conducted by the Negros Forest and Ecological Foundation Inc. (NFEFI).
Since February of this year, the NRCP has been regularly visiting six survey sites within the NNNP. Data on birds, bats, mammals, herpetiles, butterflies and vegetation is collected in a systematic manner to ensure the surveys are repeatable and statistically comparable. Volunteers work from satellite camps in the forest with each survey lasting four days and three nights (dependent on the current weather conditions). So far this year, sightings have included; Visayan Tarictic hornbills (Penelopides panini), the critically endangered Flame-templed babbler (Stachyris speciosa), and Philippine tube-nosed fruit bats (Nytimene rabori) including a female carrying young.
In addition, the NRCP and the village community of Campuestohan (where the NRCP base camp is located) continue to maintain a close, positive relationship. Weekly games and activities for the local children take place every Sunday and English / Ilongo lessons have resumed with vigour, providing community members with the opportunity to improve their already very competent English conversational skills, in exchange for teaching basic Ilongo to the U.K. volunteers.
With the arrival of Haileybury and Imperial Service College on site last week, visits to local schools have recommenced. Cabatangan Secondary School recently attended a day of lectures and games at the NRCP as part of the projects environmental education programme and to promote social and cultural exchange. The U.K. volunteers then paid a visit to the school the following week where NRCP staff conducted a lecture on herpetiles, followed by a short, light-hearted play presented by the volunteers to the local school about the NRCP’s work.
Local community support and involvement are integral to the aims, objectives and success of the NRCP. The project contributes directly to the development of alternative livelihood opportunities through the co-operation of local community members in all parts of NRCP’s work (Turner, 2001). Furthermore, the project is always looking for local Filipino volunteers to partake in its comprehensive training programme of tropical habitat and wildlife assessment, which runs once a month and is open to local community members.
Through the development of integrated community-driven management recommendations and the use of ecotourists (U.K. volunteers) to partake in conservation and scientific research, the NRCP continues to contribute to the success story that is the North Negros Natural Park.
(For further details about becoming a volunteer at the NRCP please contact NFEFI on +63 34 4339234).
Written by Wing-Yunn Crawley & James Grecian (Science Officers).
