A group of Negros Oriental residents is asking the Biodiversity Management Bureau of the Department of Environment & Natural Resources in Manila to classify the Dumaguete coastline and the Southern Negros Marine Key Biodiversity Area as an “environmentally-critical area”.
The Sustainable Environment Alliance for Negros lsland (SEAN) has sent a petition to Assistant Sec. Marctal Amaro Jr., requesting the BMB of the DENR to declare the Dumaguete coast and the Southern Negros area as environmentally-critical because they are considered a “biodiversity hotspot”.
The SEAN convenors said these areas have “diverse ecosystems, high species endemism, and the presence of numerous threatened and endangered species”.
They also cited that Negros Oriental is part of the Greater Negros-Panay Rainforests ecoregion, known for its significant biodiversity. “Preserving the ecosystems, including along the Dumaguete coast and Southern Negros key marine area is an important part of our national commitment to conserving biodiversity,” their statement read.
Presidential Proclamation 2146 defines an “environmentally-critical area” as the “habitat for any endangered or threatened species of indigenous Philippine Wildlife (flora and fauna).”
The SEAN convenors explained that the eight-kilometer Dumaguete coastline is part of the Southern Negros Marine Key Biodiversity Area. Surveys conducted by the Silliman University – lnstitute of Environmental &Marine Sciences have estimated more than 200 species of fish, approximately 200 coral species, more than 100 macro invertebrates species, and seven seagrass species in four marine reserves and their adjacent fished areas.
A study on corals led by Dr. Aileen Maypa using the Red List category of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) found that the Dumaguete coast is home to some “endangered, vulnerable, and 20 threatened, and 60 near-threatened” coral species.
In addition, another study in November 2024 documented around19 individuals of the endangered green turtle (Chetonia mydas) along the Piapi coast.
The statement of the SEAN convenors cited two projects being implemented by the Department of Public Works & Highways along the Dumaguete coast that may hamper the marine ecosystem in the area: the flood-mitigating structures and construction of shore protection in barangay Looc upto barangay Piapi, referred to as the “Sustainable Infrastructure Projects Alleviating Gaps” (SIPAG).
“These two projects will bury hectares of seagrasses that are nursery grounds for many species of fish and invertebrates,” they said. “It will also affect the corals by sedimentation or burying them.”
The SEAN convenors cited another project, referred to as the “Dumaguete Coastal Road Alignment” that they said will “eliminate Silliman Beach…eliminate the last sandy area of Dumaguete where some of the sea turtles are likely to nest”.
