Current view: Text account
Site description (2001 baseline):
Site location and context
Mt Kanla-on is the highest peak on Negros, and lies c.35 km south-east of Bacolod City. There are several volcanic craters and peaks in the Kanla-on range, the highest of them reaching 2,435 m. These mountains are included in the Mt Kanla-on National Park, and forest within the park is estimated to cover about 11,475 ha or 46.7% of its total area. Other habitats include open grassland and cultivated lands occupied by settlers.
Most of the forest is montane, including mossy forest from about 1,700 m to the bare peaks of the active volcanoes or low shrubby vegetation and grassland of the inactive peaks. There are some areas of lowland forests at Guintubdan and Mambucal, and possibly elsewhere on the slopes. The forest along the valley of the Guintubdan trail starts at 1,050 m, and is then continuous up to the peak of the volcano. It descends somewhat lower on adjacent ridges, but is in poor condition at these altitudes. Ten years ago the forest boundary was around 800 m, where only fragments now remain. This indicates a fast rate of retreat and a great loss of important mid-altitude forest. At Mambucal, forest descends to about 750 m, lower in some precipitous valleys. A few forest species occur in parkland at Mambucal village at 400 m. On the gentler slopes it has been logged to around 950 m, above which forest is primary and extends to the summit. The logged forest is rather open, but many large trees remain, and the area supports a high diversity and density of forest birds.
Sources of livelihood on Kanla-on include upland farming, orchid gathering, wood gathering, charcoal making and livestock raising. The park serves as the primary watershed for one fifth of the land area of the province, about 160,000 ha of valuable agricultural land where sugar and rice are the main products. It also has important recreational, educational, scientific and historical values.
Mt Kanla-on has been visited by many ornithologists in the past, and most of the threatened and restricted-range species of the Negros and Panay Endemic Bird Area have been recorded there. It still contains a large area of montane forest, and it is particularly notable as the only site where Negros Fruit-dove has ever been recorded, although there is no recent information on the status of this bird. Several of the other threatened species have been recorded there in the 1990s, including the Negros Bleeding-heart, Flame-templed Babbler, White-throated Jungle-flycatcher and Visayan Flowerpecker. However, most of these are primarily birds of lowland forest, and the continuing loss of the lower altitude forests from the slopes of Mt Kanla-on is steadily reducing the value of this site for their conservation, and the White-throated Jungle-flycatcher may already be locally extinct.
Non-bird biodiversity: The endangered Philippine Spotted Deer Cervus alfredi and Visayan Warty Pig Sus cebifrons have been recorded, and other threatened and endemic mammals probably occur.
Mt Kanla-on is the highest peak on Negros, and lies c.35 km south-east of Bacolod City. There are several volcanic craters and peaks in the Kanla-on range, the highest of them reaching 2,435 m. These mountains are included in the Mt Kanla-on National Park, and forest within the park is estimated to cover about 11,475 ha or 46.7% of its total area. Other habitats include open grassland and cultivated lands occupied by settlers.
Most of the forest is montane, including mossy forest from about 1,700 m to the bare peaks of the active volcanoes or low shrubby vegetation and grassland of the inactive peaks. There are some areas of lowland forests at Guintubdan and Mambucal, and possibly elsewhere on the slopes. The forest along the valley of the Guintubdan trail starts at 1,050 m, and is then continuous up to the peak of the volcano. It descends somewhat lower on adjacent ridges, but is in poor condition at these altitudes. Ten years ago the forest boundary was around 800 m, where only fragments now remain. This indicates a fast rate of retreat and a great loss of important mid-altitude forest. At Mambucal, forest descends to about 750 m, lower in some precipitous valleys. A few forest species occur in parkland at Mambucal village at 400 m. On the gentler slopes it has been logged to around 950 m, above which forest is primary and extends to the summit. The logged forest is rather open, but many large trees remain, and the area supports a high diversity and density of forest birds.
Sources of livelihood on Kanla-on include upland farming, orchid gathering, wood gathering, charcoal making and livestock raising. The park serves as the primary watershed for one fifth of the land area of the province, about 160,000 ha of valuable agricultural land where sugar and rice are the main products. It also has important recreational, educational, scientific and historical values.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
The national park status of Mt Kanla-on has not protected the forests on its lower slopes from total clearance. It is now heavily occupied by settlers, and a recent census indicated that there are over 3,000 households living in the park. The rich volcanic soils give the area great potential for agricultural cultivation, especially in San Carlos, Kanla-on and La Castellana. This is a successful vegetable production area and the need for more farmland has encouraged the inhabitants to continue to clear forests. On the eastern slope of the mountain it is reported that no forest occurs below 1,200-1,300 m, and on the western slope it has retreated to around 1,000 m in most areas, with only one sector, Mambucal, still extending down to 750 m. When this lowest block of forest at Mambucal is lost, as it could be in a few years if the current intensity of cutting and clearance continues, the only suitable habitat for several of the park's rarest birds will be lost. Resource extractive activities are also degrading and clearing forest in the park, including the illegal cutting of trees for charcoal-burning and timber, and kaingin, mainly in the lower altitude forests. Large numbers of ornamental plants (orchids, ferns, palms) are collected for sale from higher altitudes, and rattans and canes are cut.
Butterfly- and beetle-collecting is reported to be intensive, and could be a threat to endemic butterfly species. The collection of other insects, snails and parrots, and the hunting of large mammals has been observed. The unregulated entry and activities of park visitors have resulted in problems such as solid waste and vandalism.
Mt Kanla-on has considerable potential for energy production and tourism, but the local communities have perceived these as threats. The geothermal energy of Kanla-on has attracted the attention of the Philippines National Oil Corporation, which has considered a geothermal development project, but the NGO’s and local communities have opposed this. The spectacular natural features could provide the basis for the establishment of tourism facilities. However, trails have been damaged in the past, which led the local PAMB to close the park to backpackers and climbers for two years starting in 1999. Other threats to the natural environment include road building, clearings and kaingin.
Conservation responses/actions for key biodiversity
IPAS Phase I gives potential for integrated park development and management especially the participation of NGOs and Local Government Units (LGUs). Under IPAS management the park will be zoned. A Strict Protection Zone including 27% of the park is intended to protect the lowland forest, and tourists and researchers will need special permits to enter. In a Managed Reserve Zone, covering 23% of the park, it is intended to use regeneration strategies to manage the sparsely forested and denuded slopes of the park, involving local communities. Nature centres and tourist facilities will be developed there. The Multiple Use Zone covers 50% of the park and includes built up and agricultural areas where developments intended to benefit the local communities and decrease dependency on the forest will be allowed, and where boundary markers and interpretation signs will be put up.
Mt Kanla-on National Park was declared by Proclamation No. 721 on 8 August 1934, and revised by Proclamation No. 1005 on 8 May 1997. This is a GEF-CPPAP site.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Mount Kanla-on Natural Park (Philippines). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/mount-kanla-on-natural-park-iba-philippines on 22/11/2024.
