Zamboanga's Pride, The Pasonanca Park

ZAMBOANGA CITY (Darwin Wee) For enthusiasts, a nature adventure is a mere 20-minute drive from the city proper.

The Pasonanca Natural Park shows the relationship between tourism development and biodiversity conservation.

Eduardo M. Bisquera, Jr., regional technical director of the Department of Environmental and Natural Resource's Protected Areas, Wildlife and Coastal Zone Management Service, said the park was designed to highlight tourism-related opportunities and threats to biodiversity conservation.

The park was opened in June 2004. It is in Sitio Canacutan, Barangay Pasonanca, at least 5 kilometers away from downtown Zamboanga.

It encompasses at least 10 barangays -- Pasonanca, Lunzuran, Lumayang, Cacao, Lapacan, Lamisahan and Bunguiao in the east side, and La Paz, Baluno and Dulian in the west.

Mr. Bisquera said 90% of the 17,414-hectare park remains intact with secondary and old-growth dipterocarp forest that is high in biodiversity of flora and fauna.

The ecology serves as breeding ground for endemic birds species, forest animals such as wild boars, deer, wild cats, reptiles in the watershed areas and various insects.

To preserve the park, the Environment department implemented seminars to develop capacity building for its field staff and program managers.

This was meant to entertain the tourists and to design and implement eco-tourism programs that address conservation issues and create jobs and income opportunities.

Mr. Bisquera said eco-tourism development programs emphasize understanding community approaches toward tourism, as well as the underlying conservation, capacity, social, political, and economic issues.

He said eco-tourism has the potential to generate both positive and negative effects on an area and its inhabitants.

"Closely related is how tourism can affect a host community's use of natural resources. Those resources can include water, clean air, agricultural lands, and recreational areas, as well as important ecosystems such as forests, grasslands, wet lands, and coastal areas.

"Moreover, tourism can be positive, thereby fostering local pride, revitalizing traditions, decreasing urban flight, improving human welfare, and strengthening institutional development and governance. Related to its very reliance on natural attractions as a resource, tourism can also help foster stewardship among local communities for conservation," Mr. Bisquera explained.

Although eco-tourism is a major contributor to the local economy, he said the rate at which tourism continues to grow presents both opportunities and threats for conservation.

"If not properly managed, major losses will virtually take place on every kind of natural habitat and the decline and extinction of species will occur. These include coastal and marine areas, coral reefs, mountains, and rainforests, which support a wide range of activities, including beach tourism, skiing, trekking, and wildlife viewing," he said.

"In the Pasonanca Natural Park, we make sure that the forest will not be disturbed."

The Protected Area Management Board and 10 barangay officials and different volunteer groups would oversee and control, if not prevent, biophysical impacts of eco-tourism.

The local environment office has set up warning signs within the park to prevent visitors from entering protected areas.

"This is a measure to prevent mass tourism inside the park, and in order to effect changes in the tourism industry toward more conservation-friendly," Mr. Bisquera said.

An eco-tourism business promotes biodiversity conservation while at the same time providing income to the locals, he said.

On the average, the Pasonanca eco-trail receives more than a hundred visitors per month.

Majority of the visitors are students who constitute roughly 60% to 70% of the total eco-tourism arrivals to the park, followed by families, professionals, and mountain climbers.

Interventions to improve the Pasonanca Natural Park include designing and building a viewing deck that will offer visitors a unique perspective and spectacular way of experiencing the rainforest.

A comprehensive visitor's center worth P2 million, which includes a major educational exhibition, shops, camp ground, and other public amenities, is expected to be constructed next year.

To ensure the long-term sustainability of the facility, the Environment department helped in establishing "Friends of the Park," which is composed of private sector, academe, environmental groups and other civic groups.

"This will lead the different sectors and stakeholders here to feel a sense of ownership, by conserving the area," Mr. Bisquera said.

The 1.8-km eco-trail leads visitors through the summit which provides a view of the rainforest. It has a campsite with hanging bridge, which is before the Biodiversity Information Center.

Other facility include a clonal nursery and bamboo complex for forestry-related research. The park also has a rock called Pulong Bato for rock climbers. With a guide, visitors to the eco-trail can learn the secrets of the forest, including the uses of various medicinal plants.