Dumagat members contribute their knowledge on Mt. Mingan biodiversity to bird guide trainings.
Forest protection can also mean employment opportunity especially to direct forest-dependents like indigenous peoples (IPs) who consider the forest as their ancestral domain.
By Laarni Jocson & Maria Clarissa Manalastas, Haribon Foundation
The Dumagat or Dumagat Agta are IPs who reside in the province of Nueva Ecija, where Mt. Mingan in Gabaldon hosts the country’s pride and national bird, the Haring Ibon since its rediscovery in 2014 by Haribon Foundation’s research team (one named as Gab-e or Gabaldon Eagle).
Indeed, Mt. Mingan has flourishing biodiversity which is the reason why a prime raptor like the Haring Ibon chooses this mountain as its home. Unfortunately it’s also a hotspot to illegal activities which threaten the security and survival of all lives dependent on it.
To provide alternative and sustainable livelihood, Haribon’s Philippine Eagle Project (PEP) trained ten Dumagat males to become bird guides of Mt. Mingan. The series of trainings taught the Dumagats the technicalities of being a bird guide: how to use and set-up binoculars and tripod, how to give formal orientation to tourists, how to properly guide a group to bird watch, how to properly describe the location of the birds, and other minutiae details.
Putting aside the said requirements, the participants were born naturals. They did not have a hard time because birds have been part of their indigenous knowledge– they use birds to tell time and they see birds as fellow farmers. They could identify and locate the birds by simply listening to their calls or songs, they had a lot of entertaining folklores as told by their forefathers about the origins of birds, they intuitively knew the perfect spot where one can find numerous birds, and they knew the best time for bird watching.
The Dumagats realized that bird guiding could become a tool to share not only their knowledge about birds but their knowledge about the forest and trails of Mt. Mingan. This included their first hand experiences and their culture that developed from living in the said mountain through time. The trainings simply helped them on how they could share their knowledge just like how professional bird guides do.
Through bird guiding, the Dumagats could promote and increase awareness on the importance of forest. After all, forest is home to various animals, insects, plants, and many other creatures that are co-dependent to each other– it is integral to survival of biodiversity.
If the community protects and conserves the forest, this ensures that there would be enough trees for birds to nest. Birds would thrive and multiply which would mean more opportunities for curious bird watchers and continued livelihood for the bird guides.
And if our forests are protected, communities, wildlife, etc. will continue to benefit from its ecological services such as constant and free food, water, fresh, filtered air, habitat, medicine, prevention of soil erosion, landslide, flashfloods, and many others.
Aside from being an alternative source of livelihood for forest dependents like Dumagat, the said trainings are preparation for the proposed eco-tourism of Gabaldon.
Laarni Jocson is Haribon’s Communications & Information Officer. Maria Clarissa Manalastas is Haribon’s Site Action Officer who currently conducts trainings and coordination in the organization’s project in Gabaldon.
The Philippine Eagle Project (PEP) on Mt. Mingan is made possible with funding and support from Birdlife International, Toyota Foundation, Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) fellowships of the Zoological Society of London (ZSL)ZSL-Edge, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit Protected Area Management Enhancement (GIZ-PAME), Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Local government units (LGUs) of Gabaldon, Dingalan and San Luis. For more information about the Haring Ibon in Luzon, please email: wildlife@haribon.org.ph.
