_ MONITORING SYSTEM = Fact Sheet rita © 0)Acknowledgement: Text: Editing: Leryenut usin. Alviola, Finn Banialsen, Arne Jensen, 1 Polaganas Ronald Allan Altamirana, Philip Alviola, Sanne Schnell Nisben, Edith Pimentel Mary Ann Barcolana-Leones Frdi Naeg, Oscur Figuracion This documant has been prepared as part of Ihe lechnical assistance funcled by the Ministry of Foreign Affcirs, the Government of Denmark, through the Word Bank to the DENR by the Protected Araas and Wildlife Bureny Depocment of Environmen! ond Natural Resources Visayas Avenue, Diliman, Quezon City Philippines Project Management Office of WB-TABC Ninoy Aquina Park and Wildlife Nodure Center North Avenue, Diliman, Quezon City Philippines. Nardic Agency for Development and Ecolagy Skindergade 22 DX-1159 Copenhagen K Denmark Opinions and recommendations expressed in this document ore those of the authors and da not necessarily reflect the views of DENR This document or parts thereof may be reproduced only if the source is mentionad ecl as follows This publication should be DENR & NORDECO 2000, Bicdiversity Monilaring System Fact Sheet. DENR, Manila, and NMORDECO, Capenhagen. “DENR-NORDECG, October 7000. All rights reserved.Contents Introduction Why monitor biodiversity? What is the DENR Biediversity Monitoring System or BMS? How many monitoring sites are needed jo cover o protected oreat How are the resource uses ond species to be monitored selected? How do local people participate in the implementation of BMS? How is the BMS designed for the protected area staff and the communities? How will Iho BMS information be used? low sustainable is the BMS? Are the methods scientifically sound? Who should implement the BMS? low to select the most important siles ond species te manitor? Whal constitute BAAS baseline dota? Con the PAMB raly on what the local communities soye What is the difference between biodivarsily meniloring and resource inventory? A wens 10 VW 12 13 VF 16 19 aa de Dl ikeeeeee) B04) This hooklet is designed for the Biodiversity Monitaring System [BMM3) implementers. These are the BMS trainers of the Protected Areas and Wildlife Buregu, the BMS. coomdinator fram the GENR regional offices, the protected area staf, and voluntaer groups in tha protactad araas. The malerial is based an the questions raised by the mmplemeniars during their wark with the BMS We hope this material will guide the implementers in their daily work.Protected! areas have been established to conserve the Philippine biodiversity or "samut-saring buhay”. Repeated collection of field dalo ower time or monitoring can show if the biodiversity of an area is being mointained in accardance with ihe MIPAS Actond with the management objectives of the area. The NIPAS Act requires Ihal the protected area staff and ihe Protected Area Monagement Bourd (PAB) facus an A arens under threat due ta unsustainable land-use practices, A areus or resources @ iwelihoad of lenured migrants and indigenous people: ond, A areas and species important to conservation. Biodiversity monitoring can strengthen protected area Monagement by answering many useful questions such as A Are habilols and ecosystems being degraded A Are the populations of threatened species declining? Who are the ccusus? A Are the management inlerver hive in addressing ns in the area effec- diversily conservation needs? A Ave there increased! benefits 19 local commun frarn sustainable natural resource usc? A Whol problems do local communities encounter in relation to protected area management? The Biodivarsity Monitoring System ig designed by DEN to improve Ihe infarmation available for decision-makers in protected areas Ihrowgh the raquiar callection of deta on natural resources and thair utilization, The focus of BAAS is fo identify Irends in biediversily and its use to guide the actions of ihe PAMB, Ihe Local Government Units (LGUs} ond the tacal communities in natural resource management. This “ill lead to mpravecl conservation actions and more susteincble use of forests, wetlands and marine resources. In addilian, it improves the participation of the prolecled area communities in the management of the dred as envisioned by the National Intagrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS] Act. It alse enhances the capneity of the protected area slafl and -commu 1 biodiversity monitoring and in providing fallaw-up netions through the process.Biodiversity monitoring is underlaken using {our basic methodologies particularly dasigned for the use by tha GENR prelected orea sioff, local communities, enous peoples, local forest queirds and concerned local non-government organizations. One way lo moniter biodiversity is ta tnlk with the peaple living in ihe protected area during regular group discussions, They are often very knowledgeable aiboul lecal wildlife and tesource use. This is the Focus Graup Discussion method . Anelher way is to record “3 | (changes in the vegelation and "land use of the pratected grea This con be done by regutarly ~ laking photos of the same area and comparing the photos. This is Ihe Phota Documenielian method The t monitering is by recording the number ol sightings of a species (and signs of resource uses) clang a particular route, ore then regularly walk for sail or swim} the same roula, This is the Transect methad rd way of a wok The fourth way of monilaring is by = recording the number of sightings e =— leg. of hornbills}, of of a local 2 resource use (e.g. rallan collectors} when walking in the proteciad area. This is the Field Diary method. The protected aren stoff does not have the resources to monifor the whole area, The number of moniloring sites needed depends on the: A sizeof the protected aren, type of threats, critical canservalion and resource-use areas, number of peopla using natrrol resources, number of major resource-user permils and tenure agreements being issued, ~~ Sw ON location of management zones, especially Ihe sustainoble-use ond strict profectian zones; and, / A umber of sites wilh threatened species and populations needing canservotion, In typical protected arecs wilh communities residing Inside or along the protected aren boundaries, ane may only focus on around 1/3 ol tha pratecled areoHowever, this is dependen! on whether one is able lo identity the most threatened areas, orens under resource use, and areas of conservation importance. lo ensure that the BMS work well, it is important to select the right resource uses and spe to be moniiared, The pratectec ore slalf de not have either Ihe resources or skills to moniter a wide range of resouree uses ond species, hence, the species far ‘ts sign or Iracks) should be easy ta record end identify, The biodiversily will remain olmest Ihe same os lang as no large-scale changes in the ecosyslem tnke place. If such changes hove taken place, those will probably be he resultof human activity. is very unlikely that rare and endemic species woul become extirpated withaut meyer human achyvily fallewerd by ecosystem changes Selecting priority resource uses and species fo meonitar can be based on the following criteria: A Ihose that reveal trends (changes) in biodiversity and resource use, A those thot are easy and cos! effective to collect data an (e.g. wild pig), A those thal ore commonly-used by the local peaple le-g. mediginal plants and shellfish}, # thase sufficiantly sensitive to provide ain early warning af change (e.g. Large Pinkbediad Swallowtail which is mainly found in dense forest]; and, A threatened species int immed ates danger of exline- tion (Philippine Crocodite, Philippine Eagle, etc.) No single resource use or species possesses all of these properties. Bul by selecting a cambinolion ol prierily resqurce uses ond species, most of the criteria con be me In all protected areas, species [hal are subject of an odracion permit should be monitored, Priority should also be given to imparlanl resources for local communities’ continved use, to threatened species, and species unique tothe specific protected area or reqien Hornbills, Engle Ovls ond Eagles are some exam plas fram the terrestrial armas, Fish, Sea duriles, Gian brn © I fexnn 1the task of the Protected Area Superintendent [PASu} to ensure the participation of lacal communi indigenous peoples and other volunteer groups. Far example the Field Diary method is designed for anyone moving requlorly within the protected arec. Canse- quenily, il is well suited for forest brigade members dined researchers whe are stationed in the protected area ono more permanent basis. 5, The local communities should participate in the Focus Group Discussion, which includes the creation of volunteer Conwnunily Menitaring Groups. This method encaureges a conslrucihee diolague betveen the protected area stall and focal communities regarding the trend in resource uses, ond the siclus ol the proteciad oreq resources ancl monagement. Consequently, prolected aren communities are mare leely 40 agree and participate in law enlorcement ane in the se, During the development of the DENR's BMS, emphasis ciced on designing a monitaring system that could be sustained in the fong term with local staff ane! locaily-available rasources, and could become an integral part of Ihe doy de-doy work of PASH steff and the communilies The BMS is che simplest monilaring sysieim po: acompromise between the limited finances and people available for manitering purposes and ihe overall gee! of ensuring that ne mojar change in the biodiversily af protected arecs can go undetected. To fulfi crteriq; tris , the BMS comolies with the following 2 cost effective, - quires minimum traraing and education ol protected arect sal, A encourages parlicipahon of loca conmriu nythens bacal resource management sysioms, + consolichalieA providas people with directions regarding the aims of protected areas, A slimulates discussions about conservation among stakeholders, A builds the capacity of protected area sinff and communities in environmental management, A uses and gives equol importance ta bath bio- physicol and socio-economic dala; and, A protected area staff implement the system in partnership with local communities. In later stage, when the BMS is clready operntional and if more reseurces [finonciol and manpower] are made available itis advisable that the BMS is supplemented by satellite-based moniloring of land-use and forest’ wetland cover as wall os in-depth monitoring of selected habitots (a.g. forest, coral reef) and species leg. Philippine Crocodile and Window Pane Shell). The BMS information will be analyzed by protected area stall and/or by the Head of the Biodiversily Monitoring System ol ihe Protected Area Office. The results will be used by the PAMB and the LGUs in making better decisions on the manggement af the land and the peaple in the protectad area. Some of the information ater the PASU or the Community Environment and ural Resources CHflice (CENRO] in charge and the HH PAMB about situations that should be excimined turther nation will alse be used by the protected orea Hepes The BMS can generate data on: # benefits to local communities from sustainable resource use and livelihood progrars, # impacts of issuing resource-use permits, /# status of habitats ond ecosystems, # population status of threatened species of plants ced animale, - effectiveness of management interventions introduced by the PAMB in addressing the protecied cred conservation needs; ond, results of resloring hobitets, establishment of sancluanes, and closed hunting season. BMS is on on-going process of data collection, analysis cind decision making. Gato collection is repented over lime Io ba oble te compare trends in major resource use, the status and size of vegetahion type oll priority greas, and Ihe abundance of species [rem year to year, In foct, 1 should be integrated! with the overall mannge ment system of DENR in general, and the protects Hiren rnvcires ment in particular,The B18 is port of the long-term operatien ol the DENR, ond an annual operotianal hudgel shall be appropriated of this activity, Whenever possitle, contributian fram the UGUs should be generoted to make lhe BMS more sustainable, ds scientifically sound? The BMS metneds ore scient iy senurid i@ manner ng and analyzing data follow the “rig implementation as described in Ihe DENR BMS Manual al galh Focus Group Discussion method is a powe deals wilh lacal communities’ own porcey volions of trends in resauree use and species hod involves repeated samplings aver ime $a becou ped ols 1 trends con be established, Dota generaled continuausly sa froma number of represestati- de a valid picture af general trends. 2 conmnunilies ce All the BMS methods satisty, in ore way or another, the tenels of the scientific method, The Field Diary method the simplest form of date gathering, is underlaken by tne form erwhab ore the acivilies curraniky prescrt nog cern farnaban en the re en species from the: pealrelled avec. The hequency ol SOWTCS USE provide ranslated lo tends on Ihe resource wld diery areas wil er poten thal cart be use or Breas The date: generated in the Photo Documentation method comes in the form of photographs, This makes H very objective since no abserver-ralated biases tsuch involved. Repeated taking of pictures over a certain period a designated area wi show it changes occur. H is best if same of the Photo Documentation sites are in oreas wilhout human use [1c function os “contral’ creas} The Transect mathod (Transect Walk, Transect Cruise, and Transect Swim] is a very important method in monitoring biodiversity because the efforl used ta compile data is the some every time a fransect is surveyed, The agsumplion iz that sampling is undertaken fara long period of time so thal Irends can be detected, Hf properly executed, other forms of dota can be obtained oside fram trands suc! dices of cliversity and species richriass Some of the transect routes should poss Ihrough areas with humor use, others through areas with minimal or without human use [to serve as “control” areas).Wry. ey Department of Environment and Natural Resources In copperation with Technical Assistance tor Improving Biodiversity ‘Conservation in Protected Areas ofthe Philippines: