PHILIPPINE ECOPELAGO

I love the Philippines!

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Climate Change

Climate change has greatly affected the world and its ecosysytems. It’s gotten so much worse that it’s depressing. We can still make change though. Even if you are just one person just know that someone else out there in the world is doing the same thing you’re doing. Little by little if we all just work together we can change the world and make it a better place. 

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Coron, Palawan

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Take a hike and see the beautiful sights of Coron

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Go island hopping in Coron with family and friends

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Philippine Ecopelago

CEBU

Magellan’s Cross commemorates the moment Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan planted a wooden cross on Cebu’s soil to mark converting its locals to Christianity.

The Basilica del Santo Niño houses one of the country’s oldest religious relics: a statue of the Child Jesus that dates back to 1521.

The famous Sinulog Festival, which celebrates the child Jesus, happens every third Sunday of January. The city hosts a wild, colorful street party attracting revellers  from around the Philippines and the world.

Source: itsmorefuninthephilippines.com

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Philippine Ecopelago

PALAWAN PUERTO PRINCESA

UNDERGROUND RIVER

The 8.2-kilometer river, said to be the longest navigable underground river in the world, winds its way underneath a mountain range, through the St. Paul Underground River Cave, and then goes out into the South China Sea. The journey through the cave system alone is 24 kilometers long.

The entire area where the Underground River is located is actually a national park and a model of biodiversity. More than 800 plant species, including almost 300 trees, 195 bird species, 30 mammals, 19 reptiles, and eight bat species call this area home.

Source: itsmorefuninthephilippines.com

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Philippine Ecopelago

Unique and Threatened Biodiversity

The patchwork of isolated islands, the tropical location of the country, and the once extensive areas of rainforest have resulted in high species diversity in some groups of organisms and a very high level of endemism. There are five major and at least five minor centers of endemism, ranging in size from Luzon, the largest island (103,000 km2), which, for example, has at least 31 endemic species of mammals, to tiny Camiguin Island (265 km2) speck of land north of Mindanao, which has at least two species of endemic mammals. The Philippines has among the highest rates of discovery in the world with sixteen new species of mammals discovered in the last ten years. Because of this, the rate of endemism for the Philippines has risen and likely will continue to rise.

  Plants

At the very least, one-third of the more than 9,250 vascular plant species native to the Philippines are endemic. Plant endemism in the hotspot is mostly concentrated at the species level; there are no endemic plant families and 26 endemic genera. Gingers, begonias, gesneriads, orchids, pandans, palms, and dipterocarps are particularly high in endemic species. For example, there are more than 150 species of palms in the hotspot, and around two-thirds of these are found nowhere else in the world. Of the 1,000 species of orchids found in the Philippines, 70 percent are restricted to the hotspot.

  The broad lowland and hill rain forests of the Philippines, which are mostly gone today, were dominated by at least 45 species of dipterocarps. These massive trees were the primary canopy trees from sea level to 1,000 meters. Other important tree species here include giant figs (Ficus spp.), which provide food for fruit bats, parrots, and monkeys, and Pterocarpus indicus, like the dipterocarps, is valued for its timber.

Source: eoearth.org

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enjoy the beach at Mactan, Cebu

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Ride the edge coaster and watch the city night life

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Sky walk