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<\/p>\nWomen\u2019s Month highlights the vital role of women and is celebrated every March through Philippine Presidential Proclamation Number 227. <\/p>\n
There were an estimated 7.95 billion people on Earth in 2022, with four billion men and 3.95 billion women. With the fairer sex comprising nearly half the world\u2019s population, disempowering women curtails global productivity.<\/p>\n
For the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the United Nations Development Programme\u2019s Biodiversity Finance Initiative (UNDP-BIOFIN), gender equality, women\u2019s empowerment and inclusive leadership are central tenets to truly sustainable development.<\/p>\n
\u201cWomen\u2019s empowerment and gender equality are vital to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which envisions a world of universal respect for human rights and individual dignity,\u201d says UNDP Resident Representative Dr. Selva Ramachandran. To celebrate Women\u2019s Month 2024, DENR-UNDP BIOFIN sat down with three leading ladies working to conserve Philippine biodiversity.<\/p>\n
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At 71 years young, Mary Paduganao has become one of the \u2018Lola Rangers\u2019 of the Sibalom Natural Park, one of Antique\u2019s rapidly-rising ecotourism destinations. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn 1978, I was the captain of Barangay Imparayan. We set up the very first batch of \u2018Bantay Gubat\u2019 or Forest Wardens for the park. Today, after 46 years, we\u2019ve grown to almost 80 wardens \u2013 both women and men \u2013 who regularly patrol the park to thwart logging, wildlife poaching and the occasional brushfire.\u201d <\/p>\n
Through the years, \u2018Lola Ranger\u2019 has worked with various environmental groups such as the Haribon Foundation and DENR-UNDP BIOFIN. \u201cThese groups empowered us with the skills and knowledge to become effective Forest Wardens, environmental educators and tour guides, especially now that more visitors are coming.\u201d <\/p>\n
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Working with \u2018Lola Ranger\u2019 is the Cabladan Bantay Gubat Association (CBGA), representing one of four barangays ringing the protected area. In Barangay Cabladan, female Forest Wardens serve as chief educators on the importance of protecting the park, becoming conservation advocates to their fellow residents. \u201cWe share everything we learn from BIOFIN\u2019s ecotourism workshops and training sessions,\u201d adds CBGA board member Mergie Elloran. \u201cWe share them whenever we attend Barangay Cabladan\u2019s assemblies.\u201d <\/p>\n
The CBGA\u2019s female Forest Wardens also provide additional ecotourism services to park visitors through tour guiding and catering. <\/p>\n
Together with allied people\u2019s organizations like the CBGA, \u2018Lola Ranger\u2019 and the other Bantay Gubat are working to help protect the Sibalom Natural Park, home of the Philippines\u2019 multi-hued \u2018Rainbow River\u2019 and endangered wildlife like wild pigs, deer and Rafflesia, the largest flower on Earth. <\/p>\n
Here and in other protected areas across the Philippines, both women and men work in harmony to protect the country\u2019s natural resources. <\/p>\n
Wildlife biologist Lisa Paguntalan is no stranger to the outdoors, having studied endangered Philippine wildlife since 1996. <\/p>\n
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\u201cMy drive for conservation began in college. We were studying bats in the Balinsasayao Twin Lakes when I realized that three of the four bats we collected were endemic or found nowhere else but the Philippines. However, I also noticed that many of our local forests are receding, meaning some of our endemic species might become extinct. Unless of course we do something about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Today, Lisa leads the Philippines Biodiversity Conservation Foundation Incorporated (PhilBio), which addresses the long-term conservation of native and threatened Philippine species by working closely with local stakeholders. \u201cPart of the work we do is engaging local governments and agencies to invest in conserving less-popular threatened or endangered species and their habitats.\u201d <\/p>\n
Lisa encourages more ladies to enter the field of conservation. \u201cWomen are at the heart of the conservation arena in the Philippines. We need more boots on the ground to save our natural treasures.\u201d <\/p>\n
As a scholar of the 1980s-era Bureau of Forest Development (BFD), Armida \u2018Neneng\u2019 Andres immediately jumped into government work after graduating from the University of the Philippines Los Ba\u00f1os in 1985. <\/p>\n
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\u201cWhile most staff were men, I can remember no distinction between tasks. Both women and men were expected to conduct thorough resource inventories, site assessments, project monitoring and evaluations of our country\u2019s national parks and wildlife sanctuaries.\u201d <\/p>\n
Neneng fondly looks back at many of her field adventures. \u201cWe were assessing the expansion of the Mts. Iglit-Baco National Park in Mindoro when the 1986 EDSA Revolution broke out. We were stuck for over a week in the mountains surviving on whatever plants we could harvest around us. We ate bananas, taro leaves, even tubers! I had to study for my forestry licensure examination under a kerosene lamp. Fortunately I passed, topping the board in July of 1986.\u201d <\/p>\n
Neneng recalls that in the 1990s, there were already more women than men in the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau (PAWB), now called the Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB)<\/a>. \u201cIt was a privilege to have worked with strong-willed lady leaders like Dr. Cora Sinha, Dr. Mundita Lim and many others.\u201d <\/p>\n