Former Senator, now House Deputy Speaker and Antique Congresswoman, Loren Legarda today announced that Our Fragile Earth, a documentary show featuring the country’s protected areas, will premiere its second series on 29 November 2020 on the ABS-CBN News Channel (ANC).

“Countries agreed as early as 2010 under the Convention on Biological Diversity to set clear targets for a percentage of land and inland waters that are ecologically representative as effectively managed and well connected. The Aichi Targets set 2020 as the year we should have had 17% conserved successfully. Today, there is a new call by over a hundred organizations endorsed by the UN Secretary General to conserve 30% of the planet in its natural state by 2030,” Legarda, principal author and co-sponsor of Republic Act (RA) No. 11038 or the Expanded National Integrated Protected Areas Systems Act of 2018 (ENIPAS), said.

In an effort to gain support for government and partners to reach said targets and enhance the effectivity of conservation measures, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), through the Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB), with the support of the Office of the Deputy Speaker Legarda, produced Our Fragile Earth: Protected Areas of the Philippines.

The documentary series, which will run for ten weeks from November 29, 2020 to January 31, 2021, will be aired on Sundays at 6:30pm with replay every Monday at 2:30pm on ANC. Legarda said that the second series, featuring 20 protected areas, lets viewers travel virtually to two protected areas per episode.

Conceptualized and hosted by the Deputy Speaker, and produced by the DENR-BMB and LeGiT Entertainment and Media Company, Inc., this series is important in making sure that every Filipino can help protect the value and wealth of our national patrimony.

“How can we conserve what we do not know about? Our people’s energies must be used to defend our natural heritage. We must all work together to conserve wildlife to avoid future pandemics and mitigate disasters worsened by climate change. It is a matter of our survival as well as our patriotic duty and it all begins with seeing and understanding what we have,” Legarda added.

Signed on 22 June 2018, the ENIPAS law established 94 protected areas in the country, which increased the number of legislated PAs to 107, and provides the system for the management of these sites. It also aims to strengthen climate change adaptation mechanisms and the conservation of Philippine biodiversity.

The second series of Our Fragile Earth features the following episodes:
Episode 1 of the Our Fragile Earth: Protected Areas of the Philippines will show two majestic havens in the Western Visayas region, the Northwest Panay Peninsula Natural Park in Aklan and Antique, and the Sibalom Natural Park in Antique.

Episode 2 will highlight how cooperation among local communities, government and private institutions have become instrumental in protecting the Samar Island Natural Park in Samar, Eastern Samar, and Northern Samar and the Biri Larosa Protected Landscape and Seascape in Northern Samar.

Episode 3 will make viewers discover how the Bicolanos are taking care of the fragile ecosystem in Bulusan Volcano Natural Park in Sorsogon and Mt. Isarog Natural Park in Camarines Sur.

Episode 4 will show the role of forestlands and watersheds in sustaining biodiversity in Central Cebu Protected Landscape in Cebu and Mt. Guiting-Guiting Natural Park in Romblon.

Episode 5 will explain how Naujan Lake National Park in Oriental Mindoro and Maulawin Spring Protected Landscape in Quezon are being jointly protected by the government and other partners to keep their unique beauty and rich biodiversity.

Episode 6 will feature the vast biological resources in Balinsasayao Twin Lakes Natural Park in Negros Oriental and Mt. Kanlaon Natural Park in Negros Occidental.

Episode 7 will take a closer look into the richness of biodiversity in Bataan National Park in Bataan and Mts. Timpoong-Hibok-Hibok Natural Monument in Camiguin.

Episode 8 will take viewers to the amazing world within the Agusan Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary in Agusan del Sur and the Mabini Protected Landscape and Seascape in Compostela Valley.

Episode 9 will bring viewers to the two jewel crowns in the southern part of the Philippines, the Mt. Malindang Range Natural Park in Misamis Occidental and Pasonanca Natural Park in Zamboanga Peninsula.

The final episode will give a glimpse of the conservation practices in the Northern Sierra Madre Natural Park in Isabela and the Peñablanca Protected Landscape and Seascape in Cagayan.

The ENIPAS Act defines protected areas as “identified portions of land and water set aside by reason of their unique physical and biological significance, managed to enhance biological diversity and protected against destructive human exploitation.”***