Photo: Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)
MANILA (September 9) — Protected status alone will not save Southeast Asia’s forests, reefs and wetlands from biodiversity loss, Environment Secretary Juan Miguel Cuna said Tuesday, calling for stronger funding, better management and greater participation from communities living in and around the region’s ASEAN Heritage Parks.
Speaking at the inaugural ASEAN Heritage Parks Forum in Quezon City, held as the Philippines chairs the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Cuna warned that protected areas continue to face pressure from deforestation, illegal wildlife trade, unsustainable resource extraction and the worsening impacts of climate change.
“The lesson is clear: declaring an area protected is only the beginning,” Cuna said in his keynote address.
“Protection must be matched by adequate resources, capable institutions, people on the ground, and sustained management,” he said. “That is what turns a boundary on a map into real protection for our forests, wildlife, and communities.”
Cuna said the ASEAN Heritage Parks (AHP) network should be treated as a regional conservation priority because the parks serve as biodiversity corridors and transboundary conservation areas, helping maintain ecological connectivity while supporting food systems and the livelihoods of communities dependent on fisheries, agriculture and tourism.
The network, he said, spans tens of millions of hectares across ASEAN member states and represents one of the region’s most important forms of “natural infrastructure.”
“The ASEAN Heritage Parks Network, spanning tens of millions of hectares across all our territories, is quite simply one of the most significant natural infrastructure systems our region possesses,” Cuna said.
He described the parks as nature-based solutions to the climate crisis and a cornerstone of biodiversity conservation in Southeast Asia.
Protection on paper vs. protection on the ground
Cuna’s warning comes amid continuing forest loss across Southeast Asia.
He cited studies showing that protected areas can slow deforestation when effectively managed, but noted that only about half of the protected areas examined in a recent regional study were succeeding in reducing forest loss.
“Southeast Asia has experienced among the highest relative rates of deforestation of any tropical region on Earth,” Cuna said, warning that the region could lose as much as 40 percent of its biodiversity by the end of the century if current trends continue.
The figures underscore a central challenge for the AHP program: designation can establish a protected boundary, but conservation ultimately depends on what happens inside it.
“This is the scientific case for the ASEAN Heritage Parks Programme in a single sentence: designation alone is not conservation — effective protected area management is,” Cuna said.
He urged ASEAN governments to increase financing and technical support for heritage parks and strengthen the capacity of park managers and rangers.
He also called for Indigenous Peoples and local communities to have a stronger role in park governance.
“I call on all of us to use these coming days to deepen technical cooperation, expand financing and capacity-building for our heritage parks, and strengthen the role of Indigenous Peoples and local communities as essential partners in park governance,” Cuna said.
14 Philippine parks, with another waiting
The Philippines currently has 14 ASEAN Heritage Parks, covering mountain forests, wetlands, marine ecosystems and other areas of high conservation importance. The network expanded in 2024 with the addition of Balinsasayao Twin Lakes Natural Park, Turtle Islands Wildlife Sanctuary and Apo Reef Natural Park.
The country’s 14 parks are:
· Mount Apo Natural Park — Mindanao
· Mounts Iglit-Baco National Park — Mindoro
· Mount Kitanglad Range Natural Park — Bukidnon
· Mount Malindang Range Natural Park — Misamis Occidental
· Mount Makiling Forest Reserve — Laguna
· Mount Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary — Davao Oriental
· Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park — Palawan
· Timpoong and Hibok-Hibok Natural Monument — Camiguin
· Agusan Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary — Agusan del Sur
· Pasonanca Natural Park — Zamboanga City
· Mount Inayawan Range Natural Park — Lanao del Norte
· Balinsasayao Twin Lakes Natural Park — Negros Oriental
· Turtle Islands Wildlife Sanctuary — Tawi-Tawi
· Apo Reef Natural Park — Occidental Mindoro.
Several of these sites are in Mindanao, including Mount Apo, Mount Kitanglad, Mount Malindang, Mount Hamiguitan, Timpoong and Hibok-Hibok, Agusan Marsh, Pasonanca and Mount Inayawan.
The Philippines could soon have another AHP.
Mount Balatukan Range Natural Park in Mindanao has been endorsed to become the 70th ASEAN Heritage Park, following the completion of its nomination review and field evaluation. Its designation, however, remains subject to ad referendum approval by the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on the Environment.
The park is recognized as a Key Biodiversity Area and Important Bird Area and is home to threatened species including the Philippine eagle and Rafflesia. It is also culturally significant to the Higaonon people, who consider the area a sacred site.
Cuna said the Philippines is also establishing a Philippine ASEAN Heritage Parks Network to bring together managers and representatives of existing and newly declared heritage parks.
The initiative will allow protected areas seeking AHP designation to learn from sites that have already undergone the process and strengthen cooperation among park managers.
Conservation and tourism must move together
Cuna linked the AHP initiative to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, the global agreement adopted in 2022 that seeks to halt and reverse biodiversity loss through measures including the effective conservation and management of terrestrial, inland water, coastal and marine areas.
Among its best-known commitments is the “30 by 30” target to effectively conserve at least 30 percent of the world’s terrestrial and inland water areas and 30 percent of coastal and marine areas by 2030.
Tourism Secretary Maria Bernardita Angara-Mathay, who also attended the forum, said conservation is inseparable from tourism because natural areas are often the very reason visitors travel to a destination.
“For tourism, nature is not just a backdrop. Nature is the destination,” she said.
She warned against measuring tourism success solely by visitor numbers, saying destinations must also protect the ecosystems, cultures and communities that make them attractive.
“Our responsibility is not simply to bring more visitors. It is to make sure that tourism protects the qualities that people want to visit in the first place,” she said.
That means respecting carrying capacities, managing visitor numbers, supporting local enterprises and making communities partners in tourism development, she added.
For fragile destinations, she said, tourism success should be measured by more than arrivals.
“Are the reefs still healthy? Are the forests still intact? Is wildlife protected? Are communities earning more? Are local cultures respected?” she asked.
“And most importantly, will future generations still be able to experience these places?”
Cuna said the urgency extends beyond individual parks because the threats facing them cross national boundaries.
“Biodiversity does not recognize borders, and neither do the pressures driving its loss — expanding agriculture, illegal wildlife trade, unsustainable resource extraction, and a warming climate,” he said.
For ASEAN, he said, the challenge is no longer simply to declare more heritage parks but to ensure that those already recognized are adequately funded, effectively managed and protected with the people who depend on them.
The test of protection, ultimately, is not the designation on a map but whether forests remain standing, reefs remain alive, wildlife survives and communities can continue to benefit from healthy ecosystems.
