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Site description (2001 baseline):
Site location and context
Mt Matutum is a steep mountain north of the town of General Santos in South Cotabato Province. A recent forest cover survey reported that the forest stands on Mt Matutum are found at 1,290 to 2,270 m, and are therefore all montane in type. Mt Matutum has a forest reserve of 14,000 ha, of which c.3,000 ha is reported to still be primary forest. The boundaries of this reserve are used to define the IBA.
Many of the threatened and restricted-range species of the Mindanao and Eastern Visayas Endemic Bird Area have been recorded on Mt Matutum, most of them during collecting expeditions in the 1960s. They include several montane forest specialists, which are likely to still have substantial populations in the remaining montane forests there, including Mindanao Racquet-tail, Whiskered Flowerpacker, Olive-capped Flowerpecker, Black-masked White-eye and the threatened Blue-capped Kingfisher. However, almost all of the forest has been cleared from the lower slopes of Mt Matutum, and this IBA is unlikely to support significant populations of the lowland and mid-altitude forest specialists which were found there in the past, such as Mindanao Bleeding-heart, Mindanao Brown-dove, Spotted Imperial-pigeon, Wattled Broadbill, Philippine Leafbird and Celestial Monarch. Philippine Eagle has recently been recorded on Mt Matutum, and this IBA is probably still important for the conservation of this critically endangered species. A subspecies of Snowy-browed Flycatcher, Ficedula hyperythra matutumensis is only known from Mt Matutum.
Non-bird biodiversity: Several species of threatened mammals are known from Mt Matutum.
Mt Matutum is a steep mountain north of the town of General Santos in South Cotabato Province. A recent forest cover survey reported that the forest stands on Mt Matutum are found at 1,290 to 2,270 m, and are therefore all montane in type. Mt Matutum has a forest reserve of 14,000 ha, of which c.3,000 ha is reported to still be primary forest. The boundaries of this reserve are used to define the IBA.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
The major threats in the forests on Mt Matutum include clearance for farming and pasture, and the extraction of logs and other forest products. In 1986, a Philippine Eagle breeding attempt failed because the area around the nest was burned by kaingeros, and in 1998, a large area at Upper Linan was found to have been totally cleared, and most of the forest edges had been burned.
Conservation responses/actions for key biodiversity
In 1996, the Mahintana Foundation was funded by the Foundation for the Philippines Environment (FPE) to implement its Matutum Integrated Conservation and Development Project. It also spearheaded the joint NGO-LGU-GO Mt Matutum Working Group, which has submitted draft proclamation papers for Mt Matutum National Park under the NIPAS, which have been endorsed by DENR to the President of the Philippines. This had funding support from FPE. A related consortium of four NGOs and one PO have developed a joint program of action for community organisation and wildlife conservation.
Surveys are required in this IBA, to investigate both the extent and quality of the remaining habitats and the current status of the threatened and restricted-range birds and other biodiversity.
A joint NGO-LGU-GO Mt Matutum Working Group has submitted draft proclamation papers for Mt Matutum National Park under the NIPAS, which are endorsed by DENR to the President of the Philippines.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Mount Matutum (Philippines). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/mount-matutum-iba-philippines on 22/11/2024.
