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NATURE’S WRATH
SHIPS run aground due to Typhoon Odette in Cebu City on Friday, December 17, 2021. In Cagayan de Oro City, a rescuer assists a girl as they wade through flooding caused by the typhoon on Thursday. The typhoon engulfed villages in floods that trapped residents on roofs, toppled trees and knocked out power in southern and central island provinces, where more than 300,000 villagers had fled to safety before the onslaught, officials said.Story on A3. PHILIPPINE COAST GUARD/AP/JAY LABRA
BACK TO MOTHER NATURE Barring any resurgence of Covid-19 cases, DENR readies reopening of more Protected Areas, National Parks for visitors By Jonathan L. Mayuga
A
S the Philippine economy gradually reopens with the continuing decline in Covid-19 cases logged on a daily basis by health authorities, ecotourism in Protected Areas (PA) is slowly reclaiming its luster for pandemic-weary Filipinos in need of a much-deserved break from months of onand-off community lockdowns.
Ecotourism in PAs, or areas set aside for conservation, offers people an opportunity to commune with nature, while avoiding crowded areas in the face of the continuing threat of new Covid-19 variants. The good news is more PAs are expected to resume ecotourism operation soon, an official of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said. So far, 55 of the 93 PAs that offer ecotourism in various parts
gat” volunteers were continuously conducted during the closure of the PAs to the public. Tour guides, transportation and catering services providers were the sectors most affected by the closures of PAs, she said. “With the reopening of the parks, we are optimistic that tour guides and other service providers that are relying on ecotourism in Protected Areas would soon resume operations. Further, partnership with communities is vital as we recover from the pandemic. At the DENR, we continuously build their capacity in managing our resources as well as in exploring oth-
er alternative livelihood activities,” Maranan said.
Adherence to protocols
HOWEVER, she pointed out that further health and safety protocols that may be issued, especially with the emergence of the Omicron variant, will be followed strictly in our PAs to avoid the spread of the virus in the country. The first two cases of the more transmissible Omicron variant in the Philippines were logged by the Department of Health on Thursday afternoon. According to Maranan, from the total income generated by Continued on A2
KAYAKERS navigate the limestone cliffs of El Nido, Palawan, part of the El Nido-Taytay Managed Resource Protected Area, which covers over 36,000 hectares of land and 54,000 hectares of marine waters. WIRESTOCK | DREAMSTIME.COM
of the country have reopened. More of these ecotourism sites will soon start accepting visitors on the assumption that, hopefully, the current national trend in Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations maintains its present course amid the looming Omicron variant threat. Meriden E. Maranan, chief of the National Parks Division of the DENR’s Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB), said with the issuance of Executive Order 151 “Approving the Nationwide Imple-
PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 50.1350
mentation of the Alert Level System for Covid-19 Response” in November 2021, tourist attractions are already open in areas under Alert Levels 1 to 4. As such, she said, more PAs opening to visitors is expected as long as concerned local government units (LGUs) where ecotourism activities will take place will not raise any objection.
Jobs provider
VIA e-mail, Maranan said ecotour-
ism activities in PAs were severely affected due to the quarantine restrictions during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. “Prior to the pandemic, an average of 4,367 jobs were supported annually through ecotourism development in protected areas, which decreased drastically by 32 percent [2,948 jobs] during the pandemic,” she said. Nevertheless, Maranan said, patrolling and protection activities of “Bantay Gubat” and “Bantay Da-
n JAPAN 0.4409 n UK 66.7949 n HK 6.4246 n CHINA 7.8717 n SINGAPORE 36.7828 n AUSTRALIA 36.0120 n EU 56.8130 n SAUDI ARABIA 13.3601
Source: BSP (December 17, 2021)