Mt. Inayawan Range Natural Park in Lanao del Norte is home to the indigenous people, Maranao. (Photo from ASEAN)
MANILA, Philippines — Mt. Inayawan Range Natural Park in Lanao del Norte has been declared the 53rd heritage park by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).
The recognition is attributed to its unspoiled forests, abundant biodiversity, and vital status as a “last forest bastion” and “critical watershed area,” which has captured the admiration across the region.
Asean heritage parks represent “best-protected areas with outstanding wilderness and biodiversity values” in Southeast Asia. It named the MIRNP a heritage park on June 28, in time for the 64th Araw ng Lanao del Norte.
“Mt. Inayawan’s forests and biodiversity are still intact; hence it is now an [Asean heritage park]. This will give the Maranao people an increased sense of deep pride and responsibility to protect further and preserve it,” MIRNP Superintendent Ismail C. Ambola said in a statement Tuesday.
Known for being a primary source of water supply for immediate communities surrounding it, the MIRNP is also considered the “last forest bastion” and “critical watershed area” of or in Lanao del Norte.
Mt. Inayawan Range Natural Park’s Asean Heritage Park marker. (Photo from ASEAN)
Asean said the MIRNP is the only primary remaining and largest rainforest dominated by dipterocarp species and containing a high diversity of flora and fauna in the province. Some endemic species in the MIRNP are the endangered Pinksker’s hawk eagle, the critically endangered Philippine eagle, and the vulnerable tree species Magkono, among others.
Asean Center for Biodiversity Executive Director Theresa Mundita Lim welcomed the inclusion of the MIRNP in the growing network of Asean heritage parks.
Since its establishment in 1984, the Asean heritage park program has named 11 areas in the Philippines as heritage sites. Aside from the MIRNP, the 10 others are:
- Agusan Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary
- Mount Makiling Forest Reserve
- Mt. Apo Natural Park
- Mt. Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary
- Mt. Kitanglad Range Natural Park
- Mt. Malindang Range Natural Park
- Mt. Iglit-Baco National Park
- Mt. Timpoong-Hibok-Hibok Natural Monument
- Pasonanca Natural Park
- Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park
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