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| Mounts Iglit–Baco National Park | |
|---|---|
| Name | Mounts Iglit–Baco National Park |
| Iucn category | II |
| Photo caption | Pastureland and savanna within the park |
| Location | Mindoro island, Mimaropa region, Philippines |
| Nearest city | Calapan |
| Area | 106,655 ha |
| Established | 1970 |
| Governing body | Department of Environment and Natural Resources |
Mounts Iglit–Baco National Park is a protected area on Mindoro island in the Mimaropa region of the Philippines. The park conserves montane and lowland habitats on the slopes of Mount Iglit and Mount Baco, protecting endemic fauna such as the Philippine tamaraw and flora typical of the Sierra Madre-adjacent ranges, while forming part of national efforts led by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and international partners like the World Wildlife Fund and the IUCN. It is a focal landscape for conservation linked to provincial administrations in Occidental Mindoro and Oriental Mindoro, intersecting the interests of local municipalities including Sablayan, Rizal and Taytay in regional planning.
The area was declared a national park by a presidential proclamation during the administration of Ferdinand Marcos in 1970, complementing earlier protected-area designations such as those for Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park and Mounts Banahaw–San Cristóbal. Conservation attention intensified after the discovery and scientific description of the tamaraw population recorded by field researchers from institutions like the University of the Philippines and the Philippine Forestry Administration. Subsequent legal and policy developments involved the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau and national legislation influenced by international accords such as the Convention on Biological Diversity. Community-based initiatives later engaged non-governmental organizations including the Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement and international donors exemplified by programs of the United Nations Development Programme.
Situated in western Mindoro, the park straddles the central highland massif formed by the Sula microcontinental block and adjacent terranes recognized in regional tectonic syntheses alongside the Philippine Mobile Belt. Relief includes ridgelines of Mount Baco and the saddle at Mount Iglit with elevations that influence local climate regimes studied by climatologists using classifications by the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration. Soils range from volcanic regolith related to past magmatic activity discussed in publications of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology to sedimentary deposits correlated with the Cagayan Ridge and other Philippine paleogeographic reconstructions. Rivers draining the park feed into watersheds managed under regional frameworks involving the National Water Resources Board and contribute to the hydrology of adjacent municipalities such as Sablayan and San Jose.
The park is recognized for populations of the endemic tamaraw (Bubalus mindorensis), subject of captive-breeding and monitoring programs by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and conservationists from the Haribon Foundation and Zoological Society of London collaborators, alongside surveys by the National Museum of the Philippines. Flora includes montane assemblages with species catalogued through collaborations with the Botanical Research Institute of Texas and Philippine herbaria at the University of the Philippines Los Baños; notable taxa are Philippine endemics that feature in regional checklists compiled by the Asia-Pacific Biodiversity Observation Network. Faunal diversity encompasses endemic birds recorded by ornithologists from the BirdLife International partnership, herpetofauna studied at the Silliman University campus, and mammal surveys coordinated with the Philippine Mammal Conservation Program. Conservation actions have included anti-poaching patrols supported by the Armed Forces of the Philippines in joint operations with local rangers, ecological restoration projects influenced by the Ramsar Convention principles, and landscape-scale planning promoted by initiatives tied to the Global Environment Facility.
The park overlaps ancestral lands of indigenous communities, principally the Mangyan peoples including subgroups such as the Iraya and Tawbuid, whose customary resource-management systems and cultural practices have been documented by ethnographers affiliated with the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples and anthropologists from the Ateneo de Manila University. Sacred sites, ritual landscapes, and traditional agroforestry features cited in cultural inventories connect to broader Philippine intangible heritage efforts led by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts and local municipal cultural offices. Land-rights dialogues have involved stakeholders such as the Commission on Human Rights (Philippines) and legal advocacy groups, integrating indigenous knowledge into park management through agreements negotiated with provincial governors of Occidental Mindoro.
Ecotourism in the park centers on guided treks, wildlife observation, and cultural tourism coordinated by local tour operators registered with the Department of Tourism and community-based groups trained by conservation NGOs. Access routes originate from towns like Sablayan and staging areas near barangays administered by municipal councils, with visitor guidelines informed by standards from the International Union for Conservation of Nature and national park protocols managed by the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau. Nearby attractions that often feature on itineraries include terrestrial conservation sites such as Apo Reef Natural Park and cultural sites promoted by regional tourism offices of Mimaropa, while academic fieldwork by universities like the University of Santo Tomas supports educational tourism.
Park management is a multi-stakeholder effort involving the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, provincial governments of Occidental Mindoro and Oriental Mindoro, indigenous governance bodies, and NGOs such as the Wildlife Conservation Society. Primary threats include habitat conversion linked to agricultural expansion, illegal logging investigated by the Philippine National Police and environmental prosecutors, and pressures from extractive interests highlighted in reports by the Commission on Audit (Philippines), compounded by climate-change impacts assessed by researchers at the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration. Conservation strategies emphasize community co-management, strengthened law enforcement, population monitoring guided by protocols from the IUCN Species Survival Commission, and integration of indigenous land tenure mechanisms as advanced through the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples programs.
Category:National parks of the Philippines Category:Geography of Mindoro Category:Protected areas established in 1970