Bio-diversity

The Province of Antique is an elongated 155 kilometer stretch along the entire West coast of Panay Island. It is bounded on the East by the mountains of Central Panay and on the West by Cuyo East Pass, an arm of the China Sea. It has 18 municipalities and 590 barangays. Predominantly upland with narrow coastal plain, Antique has a land area of approximately 252,000 hectares, of which only 43,000 hectares are cultivated lowland, 54% have slopes ranging above 30 percent lending it to soil erosion, presently a critical problem. Antique is generally rural with an economy based on agricultural and fishery related products. According to the National Statistical Coordination Board per 2007 census, it has a total population of 515,265 with a population growth of 1.19%. However, 43.4% of its population is living in poverty. According to the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI), Antique is No. 1 malnutrition in Region 6 with a prevalence rate of 12.78% compared to that in the Region which has the prevalence rate of 9.47%. Antique is again No. 2 in malnutrition in the entire Philippines. One of the contributing factors to this dire situation is poverty. The municipalities of Pandan and Libertad are the northern most town of the Province of Antique. It comprises the Northwest Panay Peninsula, along with two other municipalities of the Province of Aklan. According to the Department of Budget and Management, the Municipality of Libertad is classified as 5th class while Pandan is classified as 4th class municipality with an annual income of P22,360,000.00 and 32,797,000 respectively. These merely show meager income and support from the National government. Libertad has a total population of 14,653, while Pandan has 29,518. Antique Development Foundation (ADF), for the past 15 years, have been assisting small handicraft producers in these two municipalities. The two municipalities are the major source of handicrafts products of the Province. They utilize bariw palm, abaca fiber, buri palm and other indigenous materials for these handicrafts of mats, bags, placemats, carpets and others. These materials are usually taken from forest lands. The municipality of Libertad declared Banigan Festival ( mat festival)a manifestation of how active mat weaving is in the municipality. Of the nineteen barangays that comprise Libertad, 10 are into mat weaving. Of the 1,616 households in the 10 barangays, 856 are mat/handicraft weavers. On the other hand, the Pandan handicraft is the only handicraft producers in Antique that continuously supply local and export market. The Sto. Rosario Multi-purpose cooperative alone has 155 weavers, and they get their raw materials from 10 other barangays. The cooperative was able to generate approximately P2.5 Million sales of bariw/abaca/buri made handicraft products. However, in these two municipalities, no study has been conducted as to the volume and amount of materials consumed and utilized for the industry. However, there is an apparent inadequacy of bariw, buri and abaca as there are many outside buyers coming to the area, which remains unregulated. NO adequate replenishment efforts were made to sustain these raw materials. On the other hand, the municipality of Pandan is also famous of its Bugang River adjudged as one of the cleanest river in the Philippines. Its water comes from Malumpati watershed, which is also the source of drinking water for the whole municipality. However, due to poaching and extractive activities in the Malumpati Watershed, there is a dramatic decline is water level at the Bugang River, hence eco-tourism activities such as rafting is not possible. Indeed, the resources in the Antique portion of the peninsula are under threat of over exploitation, severe pressures from extractive activities, widespread poaching, and increasing population. Numerous small-scale logging operations regularly seek out and cut the most valuable hardwood trees remaining in the area. Kaingin is being practiced in all municipalities, and this practice does expand into the primary forests and critical watershed areas. Fuel-wood and charcoal productions are also part of daily life for inhabitants. This manner of farming causes unnecessary destruction of the forest and pollutes the water and soil.Hunting and poaching of critically endangered animals is widespread. The NWPP is rich in mineral deposits of marble, silica, iron, and clay. This makes it a prime target for mining activities, which are detrimental to the environment and the health of the people. Biodiversity Value PANAY is the 6thlargest island in the Philippines with a landmass of 12,172 km2. It is bounded by Negros in the South and Mindoro in the north. It is geopolitically divided into 4 provinces namely Aklan, Antique, Capiz and Iloilo. THE NORTHWEST PANAY LOW ELEVATION FOREST is among the most important key biodiversity conservation sites in the Philippines. The Northwest Panay Peninsula (NWPP) consists of the Provinces of Aklan and Antique, five municipalities and 22 barangays. It is located in the northwestern section of Panay Island. In the Province of Antique, it comprises the municipality of Libertad with 6 barangays and Pandan also with 6 barangay. Forest in some section of peninsula starts as near as two kilometers from the sea and at the elevation of as low as 200 meters above sea level. The Antique section lies at the end of the elongated stretch of land along the entire west coast of Panay Island. The towns of

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