El Nido is a unique, famous and known tourist destination in the Philippines. Its spectacular forest over limestone and towering limestone cliffs and islands, blue crystal clear waters, coral reefs and numerous snorkeling and dive sites and its unique flora and fauna are the municipality’s special features. There are more than 30 islands in Bacuit Bay alone which contains diverse habitats of its unique flora and fauna.
The Municipality of El Nido is located in the northern most tip of Palawan mainland. It lies between 11˚27’ N. latitude and 119˚27’ E. longitude. It is bounded in the north by Linapacan Strait (Luzon Sea), in the east by Taytay Bay (Sulu Sea), in the south by the Municipality of Taytay, and on the west by South China Sea.
It has a total land area of 92,326 hectares. This is 3.20 percent of the total land area of the Province of Palawan. There are 18 barangays, four (4) of which are classified as urban and 14 are rural.
The terrestrial flora survey in El Nido was conducted to determine the status of forest vegetation in El Nido. The information generated during the survey is to have an update of the existing land cover or vegetation and to have a reliable basis in formulating a well-thought-out forest management plan, including a functional protection system.
l-thought-out forest management plan, including a functional protection system. Generally, the ECAN Project aims to identify areas which could be declared as core zones for protection and conservation purposes such that these could be used as decision-making tools for sustainable development of the municipality.
Specifically, the Flora Survey Team would:
- Survey the flora of El Nido
- Identify “hot spots” of biodiversity
- Identify rare and endangered species in El Nido
- Identify and recommend “core zones”
In achieving the objectives, the survey team sampled 10 barangays in the municipality out of the 18 due to budgetary and time limitations. Of the 10 barangays, 11 sites were surveyed. Based on the objectives of the survey and the result of the identification of land uses, the Environmental Gradient Analysis approach was selected.
Once the land uses were selected, sampling plots using the Quadrat Sampling Method (QSM) were laid out in a systematic manner within a land use to gather biophysical data. Each QSM has the mandatory dimensions in stratification of the sampling site (i.e. 20m x 20m; 5m x 5m; and 1m x 1m quadrats). GPS readings were taken in all transects established, in other encountered land uses, and location of the houses or settlement areas in the uplands.
El Nido had large old growth forest stands. The Municipality of El Nido has a forested area totaling 22,800 hectares consisting of Primary forest; 3,398.99, Secondary forest; 16,377.14 and Limestone forest; 3,024.05.
Agricultural lands in El Nido are mostly located in the narrow transition areas between the sea and the mountains. The total area devoted for agriculture use in the municipality is 4,594.73 hectares or 8.56 percent of the total municipal land area.
All barangays have kaingins as a major source of livelihood. Timber poaching is large scale in three barangays – Aberawan, Bagong Bayan and Corong Corong.
The combined volume of dipterocarp and non-dipterocarp trees in El Nido with above 10-cm diameter amounts to 61.45 cu.m. per hectare which is quite low.
Overall, the number of species identified for the municipality is 434. This would translate into an overall biodiversity index, H’ = 4.83 with a distribution index of J’ = 0.795. Even or uniform distribution of species in El Nido is not so pronounced. Hence, one species may be found in a particular site and it may not be found in some other sites because of this clustering.
There are about 40 species identified as endangered. Some of this species identified are: Apitong, Hasselt’s Panau, White Lauan, Palosapis, and all the dipterocarps identified; there are the Narra, Tindalo and Ipil, all are leguminous trees; all the rattan species such as the Calamus sp., and the Siksik,; all orchids as listed under CITES; and others. The complete list of endangered species is in the Annex.
The recommended core zones for El Nido are the forest cover in the mountains of the municipality located 200 masl and above. Although in the computations there may be some locations that have high to low biodiversity; the criterion on “habitat of endangered species” qualifies the area to be core zone.The figure for Cadlao Island is too small to indicate the core zone; however, as recommendation, the forested areas of Cadlao Island should be declared as core zone also. All pristine island ecosystems are recommended to be core zones.
The lands with slopes more than 18% should be devoted to forestry and should be protected and managed to benefit the agricultural systems, settlements, coastal and marine ecosystems.
All areas sampled in the barangays have high to very high biodiversity. Land uses have introduced species that contribute to the overall diversity of the area.The most degraded landscape in El Nido, per survey result, is Bgy. Bebeladan where even the ridges have kaingins. Hence, this area could not be declared as core zone.
Each barangay surveyed is discussed individually in the report in a more detailed manner involving biodiversity indices and other biodiversity parameters.
Prepared for:
PALAWAN COUNCIL FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Palawan Center for Sustainable Development
Sta. Monica Heights, Puerto Princesa City, Palawan, Philippines 5300
Email: oed@pcsd.ph
Tel.: (63-48) 434-4235, Fax: 434-4234
Funded through a loan from :
JAPAN BANK FOR INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
Prepared by:
PACIFIC CONSULTANTS INTERNATIONAL
in association with
ALMEC Corporation
CERTEZA Information Systems, Inc.
DARUMA Technologies Inc.
Geo-Surveys & Mapping, Inc.
Photo Credits:
All photos by SEMP-NP ECAN Zoning Component
Project Management Office
This report can be reproduced as long as the convenors are
properly acknowledged as the source of information
Reproduction of this publication for sale or other commercial
purposes is prohibited without the written consent of the publisher.
Printed by:
Futuristic Printing Press, Puerto Princesa City, Philippines
Suggested Citation:
PCSDS. 2006. Flora Survey and Biodiversity Assessment for Core Zoning
Municipality of El Nido. Palawan Council for Sustainable Development, Puerto
FLORA SURVEY AND BIODIVERSITY ASSESSMENT FOR CORE ZONING MUNICIPALITY OF EL NIDO 2006
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