• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Map
• Reference and further resources

Site description (2001 baseline)
This IBA is on the peninsular north-western corner of the island of Panay. It includes an extensive area of lowland forest in the low hills in the interior of the peninsula, almost certainly the largest area of this habitat remaining in the Negros and Panay Endemic Bird Area. An estimated 2,500-5,000 ha of old growth forest survives there, including tall undisturbed dipterocarp forest, forest on limestone, lower montane forest and bamboo forest. These forested mountains constitute some of the last relatively intact watershed systems in the Western Visayas, and the tourist destination of Boracay relies heavily on the water supply from there. The human population in this part of Panay is reported to be relatively low.

Key biodiversity
The North-west Panay peninsula probably includes the most extensive and best quality lowland forests remaining in the Negros and Panay Endemic Bird Area, and this IBA is therefore a top priority site for conservation. Surveys by PESCP (the Philippine Endemic Species Conservation Project of the Frankfurt Zoological Society through the Animal Behaviour Research Group of Ruhr University Bochum, Germany) in 1996 and 1997 (the full details of which will be published shortly by Curio et al.) recorded several of the highly threatened lowland forest birds endemic to Negros and Panay, including a Bleeding-heart (the first records for Panay, most likely Negros Bleeding-heart), and Visayan and Writhed-billed Hornbills. Further surveys are expected to locate more threatened and restricted-range species, and many of these birds are likely to have significant populations in this IBA.

Non-bird biodiversity: Several of the critically endangered mammal species endemic to the Western Visayas have been recorded there by PESCP. According to hunters, 20 Philippine Spotted Deer Cervus alfredi, remain. Visayan Warty Pigs Sus cebifrons, were frequently recorded.

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: North-west Panay peninsula (Pandan) (Philippines). Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/north-west-panay-peninsula-(pandan)-iba-philippines on 22/12/2024.