Jolly Green Visit to the Philippines
Added to website: 07 March 2007
Professor David Bellamy, botanist and conservationist, together with Peter Raines (Coral Cay Conservation Founder & CEO), recently visited the Philippines to help promote the natural wonders of the Philippine environment and the amazing giant strides now being taken to protect the country’s threatened habitats.
First stop was to the Shangri-La Mactan Resort & Spa to join US Ambassador Kristie Kenney inaugurate the new ‘Shangri-La Marine Sanctuary’, a unique programme in the Philippines providing a mechanism by which marine protected areas are co-managed through the direct involvement of the community and the private sector. Also present at the inauguration was Dr Alfonso Amores, founder of the Amores Charities, a local NGO which is assisting in local reef conservation initiatives. CCC has agreed to lend techical assistance to ‘Doc Amores’ in his exciting new programme to map the coral reefs of Mactan Island in preparation for the establishment of a string of inter-connected marine protected areas.
The innauguration was followed by meetings between Raines and the resort management to explore an exciting new opportunity for collaborative conservation education and awareness programmes between CCC and Shangri-La.
Next stop was a visit to the British School Manila where Bellamy gaves talks to the pupils about the wonders of (and threats to) the Philippine environment, before touring the school and chatting to student groups undertaking a variety of scientific research projects. After the visit, Glenn Hardy, Primary Headteacher, said: “My highlight of the week was the visit of Mr David Bellamy O.B.E. David is a world famous botanist and we had the pleasure of hearing him speak about his amazing life and the causes he believes in on Wednesday. Both staff and children thoroughly enjoyed listening to his stories, he is a witty and down to earth raconteur, who enthuses his audience to take steps to greener planet. We were truly privileged to have him speak at BSM and hope that the children grow up retaining the message and were inspired by his rhetoric. My favourite story was one where he was snorkelling and along peacefully and all of sudden found himself raised out of the water by a surfacing blue whale, incredible!”
Following a warm welcome by Joseph Maranon, Provincial Governor of Negros Occidental, the next few days were spent visiting the natural wonders of Negros Occidental and witnessing first-hand the successful conservation programmes being undertaken by two of the province’s foremost environmental NGO’s - the Philippine Reef & Rainforest Conservation Foundation (PRRCF), and the Negros Forest & Ecological Foundation (NFEF). A highlight was a visit to the NFEF Captive Breeding Centre in Bacolod City, where some of the rarest and most endangered endemic animal species in the world are being successfully bred for future release into protected forest areas.
A few hours drive south of Bacolod City along the western highway lies Danjugan Island, a ‘jewel in the crown’ of the Sulu Sea. This uninhabited 43 hectare island is home to an incredible limestone forest system and fringed by superb coral reefs. These habiats in turn are home to a staggering diversity of life - 74 bird species, nine bat species, over 270 species of coral and 366 species of fish - the list is seemingly endless. Successfully designated as a protected area in 2000, Danjugan has since been awarded the prestigious ‘Philippines Best Managed Reef Award’.
Bellamy spent a few days energetically treking through Danjugan’s dense forests, climbing steep cliffs to observe the thousands of bats roosting in limestone caves, snorkelling the islands coral reefs and kyaking its rich mangrove forest lagoons. “I have just walked and swam through paradise!”, remarked Bellamy. “Danjugan truly is the ‘jewel in the Sulu crown’ - a place so precious and so rich in biodiversity that for once I’m speechless! The PRRCF and the local communities who have helped protect this gem deserve international acclaim and recognition for what can effectively be achieved when hearts beat together as one.” Between 1995 and 1999, thousands of CCC volunteers visited Danjugan to assist PRRCF in mapping the islands coral reefs and those lying along the adjacent mainland of southern Negros Occidental.
Danjugan is just one of many special places that can be found along the coastline of southern Negros Occidental. In 1996, the ‘Southern Negros Coastal Development Programme’ (SNCDP) was established to help bring together and represent local communities, government units and commercial stakeholders, towards a common goal: community protection and sustainable use of coastal and marine biodiversity. Bellamy’s visit to the SNCDP area was used as an opportunity to gather SNCDP members together for the first ‘SNCDP Eco-tourism Seminar and Workshop’, held at Punta Bulata Resort & Spa.
Over 100 delegates attended this two-day workshop and the agenda was packed with presentations, group workshops and a field visit to Danjugan Island. The overwhelming result was a unanimous desire by all participants to put into practice community-based ecotourism programmes that offer sustainable livelihoods for communities with meaningful (and verifiable) positive outcomes for the protection and restoration of the coastal and marine environments that are core to business success.
It took a good deal of effort and persuassion to drag Bellamy away from Negros and plant him onto public transport to Manila, in readyness for his journey back to the UK. However, his last day in the Philippines was perhaps his most challenging.
British Ambassador Peter Beckingham (CCC Patron) arranged a wonderful reception lunch at his residence in Manila. Here we met the likes of Tony Oposa, a Filipino and someone Raines has personally admired and respected for many years and Dylan Wilk, founder of Gawad Kalinga (GK). GK translated in English means to “to give care”, and it is an alternative solution to the blatant problem of poverty not just in the Philippines but in the world. GK’s vision for the Philippines is a slum-free, squatter-free nation through a simple strategy of providing land for the landless, homes for the homeless, food for the hungry and as a result providing dignity and peace for every Filipino.
That evening Bellamy gave a talk to the British-Philippine Chamber of Commerce (BCC). The attendance was over 200 - a record attendance for the BCC. Pete Raines commented: “I’ve had the great good fortune and privelage to travel to many parts of the world with Bellamy, since we first met in the 1980’s. When giving talks, I’ve mostly seen the man shine and only on a rare occassion have I seen him slightly stumble (and only due to a combination of severe jet-lag and extreme work-load!), but the man was roaring on all 12 ‘carbon-neutral’ cylinders that night! He entertained. He educated. He challenged. He enquired. He empowered. Best of all: he gave hope and offered practical suggestions for practical solutions. Bellamy’s talk lasted about 45 minutes - he spent another 60 fielding (and answering) some of the most searching questions I have heard, and would have continued to do so into the night, if it were not the last night that he would be able to spend any quality time (what remained of it) with one of his sons, for another 12 months. If that is not true dedication (to environment) and sacrifice (to his family), then I’m a calamansi!”
