Mount Malindang (9807)
Philippines, Asia
Site overview
KBA status: confirmed
Global KBA criteria: B2
Year of last assessment: 2010
National site name: Mount Malindang
Central coordinates: Latitude: 8.2167, Longitude: 123.6333
System: freshwater, terrestrial
Elevation (m): 762 to 2425
Area of KBA (km2): 407.17942
Protected area coverage (%): 79.73
KBA classification: Global
Legacy site: Yes
Site details
Site description: Mt Malindang is the highest mountain on the Zamboanga Peninsula in western Mindanao. The Malindang range is included in a national park, the boundaries of which define the IBA. Other mountains in the park include Dapitan Peak and Mt Bliss, and there are several waterfalls and a mountain lake, called Duminagat, at 1,500 m. The park has c.24,500 ha of forest and c.14,300 ha of open cultivated lands. A small portion of the forest area (7%) has been converted to permanent farmland, or is now abandoned farmland. Over 50% of the forest can be classified as lower montane and over 30% as upper montane or mossy forest. There is very little lowland forest left (about 2.5%), often in patches interspersed among secondary scrub, which totals to about 5% of the area. Mt Malindang National Park is the major source of water for the adjoining provinces of Misamis Occidental, Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga del Sur.
Rationale for qualifying as KBA: This site qualifies as a Key Biodiversity Area of international significance that meets the thresholds for at least one criterion described in the Global Standard for the Identification of KBAs.
Additional biodiversity: Several collecting expeditions visited Mt Malindang in the past, mainly in the 1950s and 1960s, and many of the threatened and restricted-range species of the Mindanao and Eastern Visayas Endemic Bird Area have been recorded there. They include montane forest specialists, which are likely to still have healthy populations in the extensive montane forests that remain there, including Mindanao Racquet-tail, Olive-capped Flowerpecker, Black-masked White-eye, White-cheeked Bullfinch and the threatened Blue-capped Kingfisher. However, almost all of the lowland forest has been cleared from the lower slopes of Mt Malindang, and this IBA is unlikely to support significant populations of the lowland and mid-altitude forest specialists which were recorded there in the past, such as Mindanao Bleeding-heart, Mindanao Brown-dove and Spotted Imperial-pigeon. Philippine Eagle has been recorded several times on Mt Malindang, and this IBA is an important past of the network of sites required for the conservation of this critically endangered species. Seven subspecies of birds are only recorded from Mt Malindang, but some of them may also prove to occur elsewhere in the mountains of the Zamboanga Peninsula. Non-bird biodiversity: A threatened species of small mammal, Crocidura grandis, is known only from Mt Malindang, and many other mammal species endemic to Mindanao occur there.
Habitats
Summary of habitats in KBA: Mt Malindang is the highest mountain on the Zamboanga Peninsula in western Mindanao. The Malindang range is included in a national park, the boundaries of which define the IBA. Other mountains in the park include Dapitan Peak and Mt Bliss, and there are several waterfalls and a mountain lake, called Duminagat, at 1,500 m. The park has c.24,500 ha of forest and c.14,300 ha of open cultivated lands. A small portion of the forest area (7%) has been converted to permanent farmland, or is now abandoned farmland. Over 50% of the forest can be classified as lower montane and over 30% as upper montane or mossy forest. There is very little lowland forest left (about 2.5%), often in patches interspersed among secondary scrub, which totals to about 5% of the area. Mt Malindang National Park is the major source of water for the adjoining provinces of Misamis Occidental, Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga del Sur.
| IUCN Habitat | Coverage % | Habitat detail |
|---|---|---|
| Artificial - Terrestrial | 33 | |
| Forest | 67 |
Threats
Summary of threats to biodiversity at KBA: The pressures on Mt Malindang National Park include human encroachment, illegal logging, hunting and kaingin. Settlers and migrants have been involved in logging and clearing the lower slopes of the park for farming, and are moving upwards. Several government-built all-weather access roads leading up the slopes of Mt Malindang have allowed settlers to migrate from the lowlands, who now practice unsustainable farming techniques that are slowly eroding the soil and wearing away the forest edge. Only one Conservation Officer is stationed in the park.