The Philippines

The Philippines biodiversity hotspot includes more than 7,000 islands, with larger islands holding more unique species than most countries and even small islands supporting greater biodiversity than the biologically richest countries in Europe.

Species unique to this hotspot include the Palawan peacock pheasant, the Philippine eagle, and flying foxes. The Philippines is also home to many unique plant species.

Threats
The primary threat to biodiversity in this hotspot is habitat alteration and loss caused by destructive resource use, development-related activities, and human population pressure. These include mining and logging and land conversion for industrial, agricultural, and urban development. The forests here have been reduced to only 3 percent of their original extent.

Strategy
The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) approach in this hotspot centers on building alliances and civil society capacity essential for the success of conservation across wide geographic areas known as biodiversity corridors.

A majority of resources support this strategic approach in the Eastern Mindanao, Palawan, and Sierra Madre corridors, where 70 percent of the hotspot's biodiversity is concentrated. CEPF also operates a hotspot-wide fund for recovery of Critically Endangered species, such as the Philippine eagle (Pithecophaga jefferyi).

Four strategic directions guide CEPF's approach in the Philippines:
  1. improve linkage between conservation investments to multiply and scale up benefits on a corridor scale in Sierra Madre, Eastern Mindanao, and Palawan
  2. build civil society's awareness of the myriad benefits of conserving corridors of biodiversity
  3. build capacity of civil society to advocate for better corridor and protected area management and against development harmful to conservation
  4. establish an emergency response mechanism to help save Critically Endangered species

The Philippines

Investment Priorities
Full Strategy
Project Database for this Region