LAWIN Team Preempts Poaching

Glan, Sarangani Province, 9 February2017 – A LAWIN Team compose of personnel from DENR CENRO Glan, Sarangani Province recently found pile of lumber abandoned along the foot of Mount Matutum in Barangay Datal Batong, Malungon during a routine patrol. The poachers may have noticed the presence of the patrolling personnel and fled from the site to avoid apprehension. Initial investigation reveals that the lumber were taken from a felled Red Nato tree, a large timber species native in the Philippines listed as vulnerable species by the National List of Threatened Philippine Plants and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

The LAWIN Team is under the LAWIN Forest and Biodiversity Protection System that integrated a science-based assessment, user-friendly and the use of innovative technology on the monitoring the status of the forest. Through a mobile application called Cybertracker, members of the community living near a protected area can report forest conditions. With a simple touch on the screen, users can contribute to the monitoring of protected areas. Patrollers can also track threats such as illegal logging, kaingin, and construction of establishment in a protected area like Mount Matutum Protected Landscape.

With the assistance of the local PNP and the Provincial Government of Sarangani that had provided the vehicle during the operation, the 176 pieces of lumber with volume of 1,295 board feet were brought to the DENR while the case is being investigated. (Wenie G. Vergara and Dante Dichoso/DENR – Glan, Sarangani)