Zoos Victoria (ZV) has supported a range of wildlife conservation projects in the Philippines since 1993. Most of those were short-term partnerships, but two remain active, ie. the Philippine Crocodile Recovery Program and the Mari-it Conservation Centre. Arguably the most serious ongoing threat to wildlife and ecosystems in the Philippines is habitat loss, which is pushing many endemic species close to extinction. Whilst many conservation projects in the Philippines have securing wild populations as an important long-term goal, the severe pressures on wild habitats and the fragile protected area mechanisms dictate that it is necessary to establish viable captive populations of the more threatened species to ensure that they are available to support reintroduction programs when these become feasible.

One such initiative is the Mari-it Conservation Centre on the College of Agriculture & Forestry campus of the West Visayas State University on Panay Island. The Centre has an excellent record in establishing and breeding five species endemic to the region. The Centre also manages a 500ha forest reserve on the University campus and is actively engaged in negotiations to secure reserves for reintroduction and community management in northern Panay.

The Mari-it Conservation Centre is located in central Panay Island (“mari-it” means “enchanted place” in Cebuano). The Centre is on the College of Agriculture & Forestry campus of the West Visayas State University (WVSU), and adjacent to the proposed 40,000ha Central Panay Mountains National Park (first proposed in 1986 following an extensive survey for the Philippine Spotted Deer, but yet to be promulgated), underscoring its value as a vehicle to support community awareness and protection in the mountains. This is the only facility focusing on Panay’s threatened wildlife and is playing a crucial role in securing viable populations of key threatened species to support reintroductions proposals that will proceed in the next few years.

The Philippines is recognized by major conservation organizations as a high priority for urgent conservation action, consistently appearing in the top five hottest hotspots on the basis of numbers of threatened endemic species and percentage of remaining original vegetation, combined with its relatively small size. The country has high levels of endemism arising from its geological history, but its wildlife and environments are facing huge pressures from widespread habitat loss, ineffective implementation of wildlife laws and low community awareness across all sectors of society of the uniqueness of their wildlife.

Although the Philippines’ wildlife laws are designed to protect its environment and wildlife, it suffers from a chronic lack of capacity to implement those laws. This is exacerbated in remote rural areas, where people are poor and government services are inadequate. Further, in recent decades, civil insurgency in some parts of the country has made protection and studies of wildlife difficult.

These issues are especially pertinent in the West Visayan Faunal Region, in the Philippines’ south-west, which is considered to be one of the highest priority regions in the Philippines due to its high number of threatened endemics and extreme habitat loss. On the four main islands of Negros, Panay, Cebu and Masbate, the average amount of remaining forest is in the order of 3%.  Panay Island offers the best option for long-term habitat protection, in light of it still having 6% original forest cover and most of that as sizeable patches (at least 30,000ha each) left in the west and north, and relatively small human populations in those areas.

Sustaining wildlife conservation in the Philippines has proved to be problematic, but a growing number of community-based programs are demonstrating that this can be achieved. These are making use of the Local Government Code, a far-sighted piece of legislation passed in 1990 and which enables power and responsibility for managing community affairs, including natural resource management, to be devolved to local communities, rather than being retained at the national or provincial level. This will be a key factor in the planned creation of three Local Conservation Areas in northern Panay.

Our key field partners are Fauna & Flora International and the West Visayas State University (WVSU). FFI is the world's longest established international conservation body, founded over 100 years ago. FFI focuses on solutions that are sustainable, based on sound science and take account of human needs. ZV has a Memorandum of Understanding with FFI and has supported FFI’s Philippines Conservation Program since 1994.

The WVSU was established in 1924 and is a premier university in the West Visayan region, with a strong vocational focus.

The Mari-it Conservation Centre (MCC) was established in 1993 as part of a broader strategy to address growing concerns about biodiversity loss in the West Visayas. Two other conservation breeding centers were established on the neighbouring island of Negros in the same period. A major driver in the creation of these centers was the region-wide surveys in 1985 and 1987 for the Visayan Spotted Deer (Cervus alfredi), which showed that this species was mainly confined to four forest patches on Negros and Panay Islands – the most threatened species of deer in the world.

This suite of breeding centers was created by FFI-Philippines as the first step in a long-term plan to secure wild populations of threatened West Visayan fauna in protected areas. Recognising the immense pressures on wild populations and habitats, it was necessary to establish and manage viable captive populations to enable wild releases to proceed once appropriate field sites had been located and the necessary community support and participation had been secured. The hunting pressure in some areas is so high that local species extirpations will likely occur, underlining the importance of captive populations in order to secure the survival of threatened endemic species. 
 

The WVSU provides invaluable in-kind support for the Mari-it Centre, allocating 5ha of land at no cost, releasing the Program Manager from some of her teaching duties, and facilitating administrative assistance.

The MCC maintains breeding groups of five key species – Visayan Spotted Deer (C. alfredi), Visayan Warty Pig (Sus cebifrons), Walden's Hornbill (Aceros waldeni), Panay Tarictic Hornbill (Penelopides panini panini) and Panay Bushy-tailed Cloud Rat (Crateromys heaneyi). The first three are listed by the IUCN as Critically Endangered and the other two as Endangered. The Spotted Deer and Warty Pig are managed as part of coordinated global species management programs, with individuals maintained at other Philippine centers and overseas zoos, whilst the other three species are only held at Mari-it. Staff at the Centre maintain studbooks for all these taxa.

The MCC has five main objectives:

1. Manage threatened West Visayan endemic species for conservation.
2. Undertake biological and behavioural research on animals in the MCC collection.
3. Serve as a conservation centre for the people of central Panay.
4. Support management of the 500ha reserve on the WVSU-CAF campus for biodiversity conservation.
5. Support the development and implementation of habitat restoration programs in northern Panay Island.

The Program Manager regularly visits remote communities to raise their awareness of threatened wildlife and the need to conserve both it and the forest habitats. In 2004, an island-wide survey (1) assessed and documented the distribution and status of remaining forests and wildlife populations; (2) determined threats to wildlife and habitats; (3) investigated community acceptability of the concept of reintroducing threatened species; and (4) identified potential release sites.

The Centre produces regular quarterly reports on all the breeding and management programs, and other activities undertaken by Mari-it staff and volunteers. These are distributed to all supporters by the FFI-Philippines Country Director.

To complement these reports, the FFI-Philippines Country Director regularly visits the Centre and provides feedback on progress with the breeding programs and linkage with plans to establish the Local Conservation Areas. Negotiations are underway to finalise support for these with additional partners.

Zoos Victoria's role

In 1999, Melbourne Zoo signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the University to support the operation of Mari-it for conservation. Under this Agreement, ZV provides technical advice, relevant materials (publications and reports), advocacy for the Centre, and funds to enable employment of a full-time assistant to the Program Manager.

Significant success have been achieved since this program commenced:

• Successful breeding and knowledge increase for all five priority species.
• Detailed records and studbooks maintained for the five priority species and intensive management to maintain genetic diversity.
• World first breeding of Walden's Hornbill in 2006 and Blue-crowned Racquet-tail Parrots in 2007.
• Establishment of food crops on the WVSU campus to minimize the Centre’s running costs.
• Training of local people in animal management and intensive food production.
• Strengthened collaboration with the two breeding centers on Negros Island, including transfer of animals and exchange of staff.
• Increased awareness of wildlife and conservation, both in Lambunao and the nearby mountain communities.
• Three potential release sites identified in northern Panay.

Forward Priorities
This program’s overriding priority for the coming years is finalise the release and habitat protection program in northern Panay Island. ZV will be facilitating this process with our other partners.

Cox, C.R. (1987) The proposed Panay Mountains National Park. Unpublished report to the Bureau of Forest Development, Quezon City, Philippines; and Zoologischer Garten Berlin, Germany. Oryx 21 (1): 317-42.

Heaney, L.R. & J.C. Regalado Jnr. (1998) Vanishing Treasures of the Philippines. The Field Museum, Chicago.

Lastimoza, L.M. (2007) 2007 Mari-it Conservation Park Annual Report. Unpublished report to FFI-Philippines.

Mallari, N.A.D., Tabaranza, B.R. & M.J. Crosby (2001) Key Conservation Sites in the Philippines: A Haribon Foundation and BirdLife International Directory of Important Bird Areas. Bookmark Inc., Makati City.

Myers, N., Mittermeier, R, Mittermeier, C.G., da Fonseca, G.A.B. & J. Kent (2000) Biodiversity hotspots for conservation priorities. Nature 403 (24): 853-58.

Pedregosa, M.dG. (2005) Panay Island: The Dwindling Forest and its Threatened Wildlife – an ethnobiological survey.  Report to the North of England Zoological Society and the FFI Philippines Biodiversity Conservation Program.