Senator Cynthia A. Villar is seeking to revise the country’s Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection Act.
Villar said this will strengthen the two-decades-old Wildlife Act to address the growing scale and sophistication of wildlife crimes.
Villar, chairperson of the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee, sponsored Senate Bill No. 2465 or “An Act Strengthening the Wildlife Conservation and Protection Mechanism in the Philippines, Amending for this Purpose Republic Act No. 9147, Otherwise Known as the “Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection Act.”
“Strengthening wildlife protection is crucial to the Philippines, which is considered as one of the world’s 17 megadiverse or biodiversity-rich countries, which collectively hosts two-thirds of the Earth’s biodiversity and contain about 70 to 80 percent of the world’s plant and animal species,” stressed Villar.
She related that the Philippines harbors one of the highest concentrations of unique wildlife species in the world.
“Yet, it is also a biodiversity hotspot with high levels of threats from habitat loss, invasive alien species (IAS), climate change, pollution, and overexploitation,” also said the senator .
“Thus, this calls for us to take action on the protection of our wildlife because any damage or loss will cost too much for us,” she added.
The senator, a known environment advocate, also cited the need to develop a more stringent legal framework, improve enforcement mechanisms, and strengthen inter-agency cooperation against illegal wildlife trade.
“We need to give more “teeth” so to speak to existing policies and laws to help enforcement authorities also to apprehend violators. And that’s what Senate Bill 2465 seeks to provide — to fortify the mechanisms in place to afford better protection to our wildlife resources,” she emphasized.
According to Villar, wildlife crimes are “evolving” due to globalization. She said open borders and better transport infrastructure also permitted access of illegal wildlife trade syndicates to previously remote areas, while the internet gave unprecedented access to new markets.
Villar said her proposed Revised Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection bill will provide the timely or relevant amendments to RA 9147.
“We owe it to the future generation to conserve and protect our wildlife resources. It is part of our duty to leave this world better than we found it,” said Villar.
