The Species of Hope: Dulungan (SOH: Dulungan) Project works to conserve one of the rarest hornbills in the world – the Rufous-Headed Hornbill, locally known as “Dulungan” (Scientific name: Rhabdotorrhinus waldeni).
To protect species means to protect the world we share with them. A mountainous spine extends through Panay Island for over 100 kilometers: the Central Panay Mountain Range (CPMR) Key Biodiversity Area. This forested backbone of Panay straddles all four provinces of the island, and is better known for its beaches in Boracay or its historical sites in Iloilo. Not many know that the island is also home to a number of threatened species such as the Dulungan.
This rare hornbill now survives only in the remaining forests of Negros and Panay with an estimated 1,000 to 2,499 remaining in the wild. There is a need to restore their habitats and ensure that they are able to survive and thrive alongside humans.
The Haribon Foundation, with support from National Grid Corporation of the Philippines or NGCP, is now working with communities surrounding CPMR. Teachers and students under the Eco-Guardians and Eco-Rangers program of SOH, are now implementing conservation actions in their respective communities in the municipalities of Sebaste and Culasi. Haribon continues with on-going surveys to study the Dulungan, whose habitat they share.
SOH: Dulungan is made possible with NGCP, which recognizes the importance of conserving and protecting the habitats of such Critically Endangered species to support the integrity of the ecosystem to sustain and enhance human life.
For more information on SOH: Dulungan, and Haribon’s Species of Hope program, call 911-6088 or email pm_ngcp@haribon.org.ph.
How is it like finding Dulungan? Read a story by Conservation Specialist David Quimpo.
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