he Katala
Foundation, Inc., Puerto Princesa, Palawan will publish a book titled
Conservation Studies on Palawan Biodiversity, which is a compendium of 17 papers
on land vertebrates and one paper on an invertebrate species found on Palawan
Island and associated smaller islands, the Philippines. Most of these 18 papers
had been published earlier in journals. While these papers are already known to
research specialists, they may not be readily accessible to the public.
Gathering them together in this single volume will make them more useful to the
public, including leaders of the conservation movement in the Philippines and
elsewhere as well as government officials responsible for the conservation of
the unique biodiversity on Palawan.
Palawan occupies a strategic position in the evolution of
Philippine fauna and flora, being a "bridge" island between the Sunda Islands of
the Indonesian Archipelago and the Philippines proper, and has engaged the
attention of biographers and naturalists from the past to the present time. The
forthcoming volume is therefore of interest to the general public and the
scientific community.
This volume, which is composed of 18 papers, four on mammals,
five on birds, six on amphibians and reptiles, one on conservation education,
one on wildlife trade, and one on an invertebrate species, shows how a
conservation organization such as the Katala Foundation, Inc. can move beyond
the usual practice of academic institutions and other organizations in producing
publications almost solely for academic purposes. The Katala Foundation, Inc.
should be commended for taking the step, through this volume, to inform the
public of the results of its research program, its supporters and its research
collaborators.
Noteworthy among the admirable achievements of the Foundation
is the ten-fold increase of the cockatoo population on Rasa Island as the result
of its conservation program. This is an example that other conservation
foundations that spend large amounts of money in the Philippines should follow.
I distinctly remember a comment of an Asian Development Bank executive some
years ago bewailing the fact that despite many millions of US dollars spent on
marine conservation during the last two decades, the marine environment has
remained degraded and depleted! Our current analysis of the present situation of
Philippine coral reefs has confirmed this statement.
With the publication of this volume and adding the several
papers on the land vertebrates published in the past by other authors, including
scientists from Silliman University, Field Museum in Chicago, University of
Kansas, California Academy of Sciences, etc., Palawan Island probably ranks
second to Negros Island in terms of the number of papers published on land
vertebrates.
I congratulate the Katala Foundation, Inc. for publishing this volume on the
natural history and conservation of Palawan terrestrial biodiversity.
