In situ and Ex situ Conservation of Commercial Tropical Trees - ITTO

78In situ conservationThis conservation strategy involves the maintenance of genetic diversity ofspecies in their original or natural habitats. In the Philippines, this remains theprincipal strategy for genetic resource conservation of timber trees, despite therapid deforestation rate in the country.Network of protected areas for in situ conservationThe focal response of the Philippines government to conserving its biodiversity– and forest tree genetic resources – is the establishment of a network ofprotected areas – the national integrated protected areas system - or NIPAS -which was formally established in 1992. This network of protected areas includesnational parks, watershed forest reserves, wilderness areas, game refuges andbird sanctuaries, and mangrove swamp forest reserves (see Table 4). TheNIPAS is the major legal instrument requiring in situ conservation of foresttree genetic resources and biodiversity in general (Catibog-Sinha 1994) andforms a significant component of the Philippine National Biodiversity Strategyand Action Plan (PAWB-DENR 1998). Like many protected areas in the S.E.Asian region, the establishment of NIPAS in the Philippines was not determinedon forest tree genetic resource considerations. But these, nonetheless, serveas de facto genetic resource areas or genetic reserves for many commercialtimber species. Protected areas provide the best means for conserving geneticresources of forest trees (Ledig 1988).The Philippines has one of the oldest national park systems in S.E.Asia, established in the early 1900s. The 4,244 ha Makiling Forest Reserve onLuzon Island was one of the earliest, having been established since 1910. Thisand other national parks established before 1992 became the initial componentsof NIPAS. Currently, there are 294 of these in the NIPAS with a total area ofmore than 4 million ha, including some marine parks and reserves and mangroveswamps (Table 4). The great majority, are however, terrestrial ecosystemsrepresenting different types of forest formations ranging from a small 1-haforest park to the large 72,000-ha national park.