Our programs and strategies
KFI employs an ecosystemic and participatory approach in all its
programs and activities. General activities include nest protection
scheme or wardening scheme, capacity building, protected area
management, among others. Conservation education encompasses all its
activities.
On-going programs
Recently-concluded projects
Philippine Cockatoo Conservation Program (PCCP)
Species conservation program aimed to conserve the Philippine
cockatoo from extinction through, e.g. nest protection,
identification, protection and management of key conservation sites,
habitat restoration, conservation education, community involvement,
rescue of individual birds, translocation, conservation breeding for
later re-introduction, etc. Project sites include Narra, Dumaran and
Rizal in Palawan Island and Polillo in Polillo Island. The newest
site, Pandanan in Balabac, Palawan is co-sponsored by the LPF and
its funding partners and the Wildlife Without Borders-Criticially
Endangered Animals
Conservation Fund of the US
Fish and Wildlife Service.
Contact person: Indira Dayang Lacerna-Widmann
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Philippine Freshwater Turtle Conservation Program (PFTCP)
The MOA between KFI and PAWB-DENR on the Philippine Freshwater
Turtle Conservation Program was signed in November 2006. This joint
undertaking aims to conserve Philippine freshwater turtle populations and
habitats, to conduct scientific research on biology and management
of these turtles and its habitats and to educate and capacitate
stakeholders for its conservation. Through the KIEBC at Narra, these
objectives are hoped to be met. This MOA provides the legal basis to
obtain confiscated turtles from recognized rescue centers and/or to
accommodate otherwise rescued turtles to the center. Current
activities give special attention to the critically endangered
Philippine forest turtle Siebenrockiella leytensis and were
sponsored by the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA)
Shellshock Campaign and the Turtle Conservation Fund (TCF).
Contact person:
Dr.
Sabine Schoppe
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Katala Institute for Ecology and Biodiversity Conservation (KIEBC)
The overall goal of KIEBC is conserving Palawan’s biodiversity
through establishment of an education, conservation and research
institution in close vicinity to threatened target species and
ecosystems. Its specific objectives are: 1) To serve as a venue for
conservation education with local population, youth, national and
international visitors as main target groups. 2) To develop
protocols for rescue, conservation breeding, habitat restoration,
and eventually reintroduction of selected highly threatened wild
species of Palawan, like Philippine cockatoo or Philippine
freshwater turtle. 3) To create an institution for research on applied ecology
and biodiversity conservation, with focus on threatened species
management, priority area conservation, and restoration.
Contact person: Indira Dayang Lacerna-Widmann
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Palawan Pangolin Research
KFI is conducting research on the Palawan pangolin Manis
culionensis. An initial study on the trade of the species in
Southern Palawan was conducted in collaboration with TRAFFIC
Southeast Asia. Results were presented during an international
workshop on trade and conservation of pangolins native to South and
Southeast Asia sponsored by Wildlife Reserves Singapore. This was
the starting point for two new projects: 1) the “Phylogeny and
Taxonomic Status of the Palawan Pangolin” a joint endeavor between
KFI and the Comparative Biogeographic and Conservation of Philippine
Vertebrates (CBCPV) Project of the Biodiversity Institute of the
Natural History Museum and Biodiversity Research Center (KU-BRC), and
the Laboratory of Genomic Diversity (LGD) of the National Cancer
Institute (NCI) in Maryland. 2) "Conservation Status of the Palawan
pangolin Manis
culionensis. This project was just submitted for funding
and aims to start in 2009.
Contact person: Dr. Sabine Schoppe
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Philippine Cockatoo Translocation Project
The objective of the project is to establish a sustainable
cockatoo population in selected translocation site, and
specifically: (1) to identify and assess suitable translocation
sites; (2) to document the translocation process (3) to create
conditions suitable for the long-term survival and establishment of
a sustainable cockatoo population. A translocation protocol is
envisioned to be developed along with project partners.
For reports on the first translocation attempts, please contact
Indira Dayang Lacerna-Widmann.
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This project focuses on the protection and rehabilitation of
former or existing tropical forest areas with the aim of
sequestering carbon and of creating or preserving habitats of
threatened wildlife species in the Philippines.
KFI enters into long-term agreements with local communities in
order to facilitate rehabilitation of degraded or long-term
persistence of existing forests in the Philippines in mutual
agreement with the donor. Project approaches include: a) Selection
of suitable areas based on the potential for carbon sequestration or
the actual carbon stock and the value for biodiversity conservation;
b) Management of the acquired areas; c) Acquisition of mature
forests – in case the forests are in danger of conversion or
degradation in a short or middle term (“avoided deforestation”); d)
Monitoring of acquired areas; e) Forest inventories after the
intervention to assess standing crop and therefore carbon in the
living biomass; d) Assessment of selected groups of plants and
animals with focus on occurrence of threatened species.
Initial project duration is five years, starting from January
2009 to December 2013.
Contact person:
Peter
Widmann
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Southern Palawan Anti-Poaching Initiative (SPAPI)
The Southern Palawan Anti-Poaching Initiative (SPAPI) focuses on
one of the most important source areas for illegal wildlife trade in
Palawan. The strategy follows the successful examples of cockatoo
conservation in Rasa and Dumaran Island. Its main purpose is the
conservation of threatened wildlife in the Municipality of Rizal
from extinction, through addressing poachers, law enforcers, traders
and buyers, youth and other key players; thereby capacitating and
motivating these local partners to sustainably manage and conserve
wildlife and their critical habitats in Culasian, Rizal.
The conservation outcomes of this initiative are: (1) stable or
increasing populations of the following species threatened by
poaching: Philippine cockatoo Cacatua haematuropygia (Critically
endangered); Blue-naped parrot Tanygnathus lucionensis (Lower
Risk- Near Threatened, but declining rapidly); Blue-headed
racquet-tail Prioniturus platenae (Vulnerable); Palawan
peacock-pheasant Polyplectron napoleonis (Vulnerable); Palawan
hornbill Anthracoceros marchei (Vulnerable); Palawan hill myna
Gracula religiosa palawanensis (Subspecies, not assessed in
Red Data Book, but declining rapidly); Palawan bearded pig Sus ahoenobarbus (Vulnerable); (2) 80%
of threatened individual host trees serving as nest trees for
poached wildlife are left intact: Koompassia excelsa (Lower
risk – Conservation dependent); Intsia bijuga (Vulnerable);
Dipterocarpus
grandiflorus (Critically endangered); Dipterocarpus hasseltii
(Critically endangered); (3) Culasian Managed Resource Protected
Area is established and managed locally.
For a copy of Final Report, please contact
Peter Widmann.
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RARE Pride Campaign
A conservation education program which uses marketing
methodologies to galvanize community support for conservation. This
uses the Philippine cockatoo as flagship species which cultivates
and promotes pride among local partners. Proven marketing vehicles
like billboards, posters, fact sheets, puppet shows, school and
community visits, festivals are used to deliver relevant and
compelling conservation messages.
For a copy of Final Report, please contact
Indira Dayang Lacerna-Widmann.
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KATALA Quest
KFI’s Katala Quest expedition in Northern Palawan, Philippines
bagged the Silver Award from the British Petroleum (BP) Conservation
Programme in 2003 along with 32 other winning projects among 360
applicants all over the world! The flagship species of the
expedition was the critically endangered Philippine cockatoo Cacatua
haematuropygia, an endemic to the island nation. As few as 1,000
individuals may be left in the wild (Widmann 2001). The island of
Palawan is the last stronghold of the species. However, information
on the species from northern Palawan was incomplete, or by now
almost fifteen years old (Lambert 1994). Lowland forest types, which
serve as cockatoo habitats in Palawan were systematically studied
for their vertebrate communities, some of which are also listed as
globally threatened. We conducted in-depth assessment of terrestrial
vertebrate communities (small mammals, bats, birds, reptiles and
amphibians) particularly in coastal, swamp, and riparian forest.
For a copy of Final Report, please contact
Indira Dayang Lacerna-Widmann.
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