Davao’s Mt. Hamiguitan gets World Heritage site nomination

Mt. Hamiguitan’s peak / Wikipedia Photo

MANILA — Mt. Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary in Davao City was once again, nominated for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco)’s World Heritage List. 

Mt. Hamiguitan, which is among this year’s 40 sites nominated for the heritage list, failed to make it to the final Unesco list last year.

One of the country’s richest biodiversity sites in Davao, the mountain was declared a Protected Area and Wildlife Sanctuary under Republic Act 9303. 

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)’s Protected Area Management Board (PAMB) and the Protected Area Wildlife Bureau (PAWB) is now managing the nominated World Heritage site. 

Mt. Hamiguitan is home for the highest and richest biodiversity in terms of flora and fauna per unit area, having unique, rare and threatened endemic species, according to Unesco.

Unesco also cited the mountain to be among the endangered home for Philippine eagle, which is “of outstanding universal value for science and conservation” as the world’s second largest eagle.

The mountain’s forest has 462 plant varieties, its dipterocarp forest with 338 species, mossy forest with 246 species and agro-system with 246 species.

Should the mountain make it to the final list of the World Heritage site, residents of Davao Oriental will benefit from more socio-economic opportunities.

The approval will also make the mountain the sixth World Heritage site in the country after Tubbataha Reef, the Cordillera Rice Terraces, the Puerto Princesa Underground River, the town of Vigan and local baroque churches.

The World Heritage Committee is set to deliberate on the nominations in Doha, Qatar  from June 15 to 25, according to the Unesco website.