MINDANAO's rich biodiversity will be the focus of the island-wide environmental conservation project of the Department of Agriculture (DA).

The department, through the second phase Mindanao Rural Development Program (MRDP), launches Monday the $6.3 million (over P300 million) conservation project grant from the World Bank’s Global Environment Facility (GEF).

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Specifically, the grant will support MRDP's Natural Resources Management component that will implement protection and conservation projects in 11 sites across Mindanao that house globally significant species, such as dugong, manta ray, giant clams, sea grasses and mangroves.

"Environmental risks like climate change are weighing down heavily on natural ecosystems in Mindanao on which many local communities depend for their livelihood and food. This is a great tragedy because the Philippines has been identified to have a biodiversity that is among the world's richest. We need all the help we can get for our people in the south to fully benefit from and sustain such rich biodiversity," Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said in a statement.

Meanwhile, program director Lealyn A. Ramos said the National Government and the Washington-based funding agency have recognized the urgency to salvage marine and forest resources of Mindanao.

"We are proud that our biodiversity here is among the worlds richest, but we also know that it is highly threatened due to human actions and climate change," Ramos said.

She added: "Almost one-third of the Philippines' poor is in Mindanao who mostly depend on the bounty of the seas and forests for their food and livelihood."

The 11 covered towns include Olutanga, Mabuhay, and Talusan in the province of Zamboanga Sibugay; Rizal and Sibuitad in Zamboang del Norte; Margosatubig and Vencinzo Sagun in Zamboanga del Sur; Marihatag and San Agustin in Surigao del Sur; Datu Blah Sinsuat in the province of Maguindanao; and Lamitan in Basilan in Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm).

With the local government units at the helm of project implementation, the World Bank and the National Government expect fish population in covered towns to significantly increase (as indicated by a 30-percent rise in fish biomass and density), reduce silt and sediment in targeted coastal areas by 10 percent, build up live coral and sea grass cover by 10 percent.

Further, the project is designed to expand the number of protected mangrove areas in the covered towns and heighten public awareness and community participation in the protecting endangered species by 20 percent.

"It will take five or more years before we can see the impact of this project because of the long gestation period of the projects like fish sanctuary, mangrove rehabilitation among others. But at least we have made appropriate actions to arrest the challenges of climate change before it could harshly hit us," Ramos said.

"These targets in general will contribute to the over-all target of MRDP which is to reduce poverty, increase incomes, promote social growth and strengthen the decentralization mandate of the department," Ramos added.