About the Threat
Deforestation, Mining, Wildlife Trade
Home to the Higa-onon Indigenous people and a wide array of wildlife, Mount Sagyaan is being threatened by miners, loggers, owners of monoculture plantations, and real estate developers. The rainforest is rich in natural resources and minerals (gold, copper, ore and bronze). Mining, logging, and the wildlife trade have begun to destroy the habitat.
There is an urgent need to purchase this land to protect the mountains sacred to the Higa-onon people — land which serves as the foundation of their culture and knowledge, including medicinal plants and foods — as well as to save the habitat of endemic and endangered wildlife.
If the land is not purchased for conservation, outsiders may convince tribal clans to sell by offering community scholarships or livelihoods. Tribes and Natures Defenders strives to secure funding from donors to save the remaining sacred forest. It has already purchased 30 hectares of sacred lands adjacent to this proposed project.
Why Vote for This Habitat
About this land
Mount Sagyaan is an intact montane rainforest in the mountains near Iligan City on the large island of Mindanao in the southern Philippines.
This sacred rainforest serves as the last home for the Higa-onon Indigenous people and is the basis of their culture and connection with nature. This land contains sacred protected areas, serving as places of worship and burial. The rainforest also provides the Higa-onon with ecosystem services, including harvesting fruits from the rainforest, collecting medicinal plants to cure community illnesses, and income from ecotourism.
This sacred rainforest is home to many endangered species, including the
- Critically Endangered Philippine Eagle (Pithecophaga jefferyi; local name: Agila)
- Endangered Native Barbodes freshwater fish (Barbodes montanoi; local name: Pait)
- Endangered Giant Golden-crowned Flying Fox (Acerodon jubatus)
- Vulnerable Philippine Warty Pig (Sus philippensis; local name: Baboy Ihalas)
- Vulnerable Philippine Deer (Rusa marianna; local name: Saladong)
- Near Threatened Mindanao Flying Dragon (Draco mindanensis)
- Near Threatened Philippine Tarsier (Carlito syrichta)
The rainforest also boasts sacred medicinal plants that can cure diseases as well as forest foods that can boost energy for rainforest survival. These include what the Higa-onon call sagay, dalagangan, kasapi, biliya vine, balagon (Calamus rotang), pangi, and other unnamed medicinal plants.
The urgent needs for these communities is to:
- Retain and protect the remaining rainforest, the last home of Indigenous people and local wildlife, and reverse years of neglect and abuse;
- Provide a sustainable living for the Indigenous people and wildlife, who live in these forgotten forests;
- Contribute to repairing recent local activities detrimental to our environment;
- Establish new Indigenous people–protected areas;
- Reposition pride of culture and nature’s connectivity, opportunity, and optimism within their communities.
- Backed by: Scientific advisory committee
Cost of Land Purchase
Total Amount requested
$55,000 USMinimum purchase
$50,000 USSize of suggested purchased land of this application
50.0 haMinimum size that can be purchased
50.0 haLocal Partner NGO
Status of registration at the national level
Indigenous peoples–led nongovernmental organization in the Philippines
Governance and management structure
Tribes and Natures Defenders is an Indigenous peoples–led nongovernmental organization based in the Philippines that was founded in 2007 to address the challenges faced by Indigenous peoples, wildlife, and the ecosystem. The organization is governed solely by tribal members, including elders, leaders, women, and youth.
The organization has a management structure comprising a Board of Directors, Founding Chairman, project managers, finance officers, bookkeepers, and community organizers.
The organization has operated for more than 10 years and implemented the following programs:
- Rainforest conservation and protection
- Restoration and agroforestry
- Wildlife protection
- Community healthcare
- Regenerative food security
- Indigenous wisdom and cultural preservation
Tribes and Natures Defenders is fiscally sponsored by Far Away Projects, a California-registered 501(c)(3) organization (EIN: 82-1917723).
Conservation Plans
Tribes and Natures Defenders has established policies/processes to enable and deliver sustainability; protect traditional ecological wisdom; implement free, prior informed consent; as well as ensure the financial and technical viability of the project. Tribes and Natures Defenders will be the governance and reporting organization, managing and monitoring the project to achieve sustainability and conservation success.
Working with international partners and advisors, new technologies (e.g., satellite/remote management and reporting) for environmental protection will be incorporated and achieved through training, workshops, and technical capacity-building with the tribal community, including youth, women, and other groups to ensure the protection in perpetuity of the purchased land.