BAGUIO CITY (PIA) — The Department of Tourism Cordillera (DOT), in partnership with the Department of Environment and the Natural Resources in the Cordillera Administrative Region (DENR-CAR), recently spearheaded the conduct of Mount Pulag Strategic Planning Workshop in line with the government’s thrust to establish the strategic direction for sustainable ecotourism development of natural landscapes.
The three-day workshop brought together representatives from concerned government agencies, local government units (LGUs) and other tourism stakeholders such as tour guide associations, and accommodation establishments; academe, and non-government organizations, to assess the current environmental issues that Mount Pulag is facing, and to identify the root causes of these challenges, evaluate their potential long-term impacts on the ecosystem, and prioritize them for immediate and long-term action.
Mount Pulag, a popular hiking and trekking site in Cordillera specifically in Kabayan, Benguet, with a distinctive summit offering panoramic views and diverse flora and fauna, has been declared as a Protected Landscape in 2022.
The ecotourism site, however, has been faced with challenges related to agricultural encroachments and overcrowding of visitors, among others.
DOT-CAR Regional Director Jovita Ganongan described the activity as a necessary and significant step towards identifying concrete, comprehensive and coordinated actions that must be undertaken to sustainably manage tourism activities in the Mount Pulag Protected Landscape.
Ganongan shared that ecotourism is identified as a protection and management strategy. It can bring many benefits to both tourists and local communities, and help support local economies by creating jobs and income opportunities for people living near tourist destination.
Why do they (community) encroach? Because they need livelihood, they will never stop unless they have livelihood, so what are the livelihood activities that we should offer, aside from climbing?
According to Ganongan, they have been receiving a lot of complaints why there are no toilets in Mount Pulag. She clarified that this is not prohibited and shared that they have been to protected areas in other regions, national and international.
She proposed for the creation of a Mount Pulag Task Force as part of the action plan that will look into the implementation and enforcement of the said identified outputs.
Ganongan also recommended that the media be included as a member of the task force, because their role is very important. We need them to report and update the public what are the activities being conducted by the task force.
The ecotourism will always respect the voice of the community, the indigenous peoples, we need to balance our role to protect and preserve their livelihood because the center of everything is about people,” she assured.
Workshop output will be reviewed by the DOT-CAR team and will be presented to the members of the Regional Ecotourism Committee for further inputs. **JDP/MAWC/PIA-CAR
