ASEAN Heritage Parks eyes Zambo's Pasonanca Park

MAYOR BENG Climaco expressed optimism that the Pasonanca Park may be included in the current list of ASEAN Heritage Parks in the country.

The iconic tree house in Pasonanca Park in Zamboanga City. (Photo: Al Jacinto)

Climaco said the Pasonanca Park has been nominated as an ASEAN Heritage Park and she has met with representatives from the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity who were in Zamboanga recently for an evaluation on the park’s nomination. 

“We are excited and hoping that our Pasonanca Park makes it to the list of the ASEAN Heritage Parks. We have maintained and protected the park as it was in the past and ensured the sustainability of flora and fauna in the area and we are happy that the ASEAN Heritage Parks took interest in the Pasonanca Park,” she told the Zamboanga Post by phone. 

The construction of the Pasonanca Park was started in 1912 by General John J. Pershing, then Governor of the Moro Province, and completed during the administration of Frank W. Carpenter, Governor of the Department of Mindanao and Sulu (1914-1920). 

Thomas Hanley, a parksman, arrived in 1912 from the United States at the request of Pershing to serve the same post at Pasonanca, and was responsible for the original lay-out of the park.

The park also has a separate campsites for males and females, an amphitheater, and a convention center, Butterfly Park, flower garden, museum, a tree house, pools and waterfalls, among others.

Currently, the Philippines has nine ASEAN Heritage Parks sites and two of which are designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites and they are the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park in and the Mount Hamiguitan Range Natural Park in Davao Oriental which were both designated in 2014.

The Agusan Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary was the latest site to be officially recognized in 2019 during the 6th ASEAN Heritage Parks Conference in Laos. The other heritage parks are Mount Apo Natural Park in North Cotabato, Mount Iglit Baco National Park    in Mindoro, Mount Kitanglad Range Natural Park in Bukidnon, Mount Malindang Natural Park in Misamis Occidental, Mount Makiling Forest Reserve in Laguna, and Mount Timpoong-Hibok-Hibok Natural Monument in Camiguin.

First envisioned in 1978 as a group of national parks and nature reserves with outstanding wilderness and biodiversity values, the AHP Programme was established to highlight the importance of a select group of protected areas in regional and global efforts in biodiversity conservation.

AHPs were then created through the ASEAN Declaration on Heritage Parks and Reserves on November 29, 1984, which named the first 11 protected areas listed under the AHP Programme. They are protected areas of high conservation importance, preserving in total a complete spectrum of representative ecosystems of the ASEAN region.

These areas are established to generate greater awareness, pride, appreciation, enjoyment and conservation of ASEAN’s rich natural heritage, through a regional network of representative protected areas, and to generate greater collaboration among AMS in preserving their shared natural heritage.

 The ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) currently serves as the Secretariat of the AHP Programme and the AHP Committee, with representatives from the 10 AMS serving as members. In the management of AHPs, the ASEAN Working Group on Nature Conservation and Biodiversity (AWGNCB) provides guidance and promotes regional coordination in the implementation of conventions and activities related to biodiversity conservation.

As Secretariat of the AHP Programme, ACB evaluates applications for new AHPs; conducts capacity development activities for AHP managers and staff; organizes AHP conferences; holds promotional activities for the AHP Programme; and facilitates coordination among AHP managers to strengthen the parks as a regional network of protected areas. ACB also conducts programmatic training courses for enhancing management and conservation skills of protected area workers. (Zamboanga Post)