THE Mt. Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary in San Isidro, Davao Oriental is now officially the Philippines’ sixth world heritage site as inscribed in the Unesco World Heritage List Monday.
Department of Tourism Assistant Secretary Arturo P. Boncato made the announcement in his social network account on Monday.
Boncato joined the Davao Oriental contingent to the 38th session of the Unesco World Heritage Committee at the Qatar National Convention Centre.
The contingent was led by Davao Oriental Gov. Corazon Malanyaon along with San Isidro Mayor Cristina Yu, tourism consultant Cynthia Rodriguez, and Philippine Eagle Foundation executive director Dennis Joseph Salvador.
Mt. Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary is the only protected forest known for its unique bonsai field or pygmy forest on an ultramafic soil or soil that more closely resemble rocks and have very low silica content.
Mt. Hamiguitan belongs to the 15 biogeographic zones in the Philippines considered to have the highest land-based biological diversity in terms of flora and fauna per unit area, among them the endangered Philippine eagle (Pithecophaga jefferyi).
The mossy pygmy forest occupies around 225 hectares of the sanctuary. Trees have an average height of only 1.4 meters with trunks measuring a diameter of an average of 8 centimeters.