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Site description (2001 baseline):
Site location and context
There are several forest fragments inland of Puerto Galera, to the north west of Mt Halcon (PH039), inside the Iraya Mangyan Ancestral Domain Watershed Reserve. The habitats there include logged-over secondary growth forest, remnants of lowland dipterocarp forest, lower montane to almost mossy forest around the peak of Mt Malasimbo, coconut plantations, mixed parang vegetation (secondary growth), beach forest, cogon grassland and mangroves. The best quality forests are on the southern slopes of Mt Malasimbo, and there are secondary and disturbed forests at Mt Alinbayan, Tamaraw Falls and Baclayan, a remnant of logged-over dipterocarp forest in barangay Balatero.
Puerto Galera is a popular tourist resort and a fishing port, and the surrounding land is used for agriculture and plantations. The Iraya Manggang tribe has been awarded a Certificate of Ancestral Domain Claim (CADC) for this area.
There are recent records of several of the threatened and restricted-range lowland forest species of the Mindoro Endemic Bird Area from the patches of lowland forest inland from Puerto Galera, mainly on the slopes of Mt Malasimbo. These are amongst the largest areas of lowland forest remaining on Mindoro, and the local prohibition of hunting on Mt Malasimbo may make this a particularly important site for the conservation of Mindoro Bleeding-heart and other threatened lowland species.
Non-bird biodiversity:
This area is likely to support endemic threatened small mammals, but no surveys have been conducted. Marine animals sighted near this IBA include short-finned pilot whale Globiocephala macrorhynchus and the endangered olive ridley turtle Lepidochelys olivacea.
There are several forest fragments inland of Puerto Galera, to the north west of Mt Halcon (PH039), inside the Iraya Mangyan Ancestral Domain Watershed Reserve. The habitats there include logged-over secondary growth forest, remnants of lowland dipterocarp forest, lower montane to almost mossy forest around the peak of Mt Malasimbo, coconut plantations, mixed parang vegetation (secondary growth), beach forest, cogon grassland and mangroves. The best quality forests are on the southern slopes of Mt Malasimbo, and there are secondary and disturbed forests at Mt Alinbayan, Tamaraw Falls and Baclayan, a remnant of logged-over dipterocarp forest in barangay Balatero.
Puerto Galera is a popular tourist resort and a fishing port, and the surrounding land is used for agriculture and plantations. The Iraya Manggang tribe has been awarded a Certificate of Ancestral Domain Claim (CADC) for this area.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
Threats to the remaining forests of this area include agricultural expansion, the collection of forest products and the extensive development of coastal areas for tourism.
The hunting of birds is reported to be widespread, and oriole fledglings and other colourful birds are collected to sell as pets to tourists, but the hunting of animals has been locally prohibited in the forests of Mt Malasimbo which are controlled by the Mangyan community. However, hornbills at this locality are said by these local people to have shifted to the higher slopes because of dynamite blasts from an adjacent marble-mining camp.
Conservation responses/actions for key biodiversity
A local Bantay Gubat (Forest Guardians) Group has recently initiated tree-planting activities in certain areas of this IBA.
Puerto Galera was proclaimed as an environmental sanctuary in 1973 and has been especially set aside as an area for research and education.
This IBA is defined by the boundaries of the proposed Iraya Mangyan Ancestral Domain Watershed Forest Reserve (2,497 ha). Part of the Puerto Galera area was proclaimed as a Marine Reserve/Tourist Zone by Proc. No. 1801 in 1978.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Puerto Galera (Philippines). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/puerto-galera-iba-philippines on 22/11/2024.
