THE HUMAN THREATHuman interference in the Earths natural systems, which began with the transitionof human society from nomadic hunter-gatherer tribes into settled agriculture-basedcommunities, gathered ace in the !"thand !#thcenturies with the coming of theagrarian re$olution and the %ndustrial Re$olution& The technological re$olution of the'(thcentury, with its rograms of industriali)ation and urbani)ation and intensi$efarming ractices, has become a ma*or threat, damaging the lanets ecosystems atall le$els&The continuing habitat degradation and forestland con$ersion are ma*or threats to +hiliine biodi$ersity& These are attributed rimarily to large-scale and indiscriminate logging and mining, burgeoning human oulation, o$erhar$esting ofresources, and infrastructure de$eloment&%ndiscriminate logging literally changes the forest landscae& Although there has been a decline in logging acti$ities, due to the combined e-ects of a ban on loggingold growth forests, illegal logging acti$ities ersist& The damage to the countrys forest areas and the biodi$ersity therein is e.emli/ed by a '&!0 1!((,((( ha2 annual loss in forest co$er during the eriod '(((-'((3, which is considered the second fastest in 4outheast Asia 1ne.t to Myanmar2 and the 5th fastest in the world& 6urrently, the country has !3 million hectares of land classi/ed as forest& Howe$er, only about 5&' million hectares 1aro.imately '70 of its total land area2 can actually be considered as forests, based on the 8A9 de/nition& %ndiscriminate mining oerations threaten ecological sustainability& The +hiliines is considered the /fth most highly minerali)ed country in the world& %t is a signi/cantroducer of gold, coer, nic:el and chromite and has in the recent ast ran:ed among the worlds to !( roducers& %t is also abundant in non-metallic and industrial minerals such as marble, limestone, clay, feldsar and aggregates& 4ince :ey ro$isions of the Mining 6ode were uheld by the 4ureme 6ourt in '((7, there has been a hea$y in;u. of mining acti$ity and in$estment< as of '((5, some !'7 Mineral +roduction 4haring Agreements 1M+4A2 and around 7 8inancial and Technical Assistance Agreements 18TAAs2 had been issued 1=ENR-M>? '(!!2& The threat is comounded by the fact that most of the countrys riority conser$ation areas sit on to of huge mineral reser$es& Thus there are many areas of signi/cant biodi$ersity with o$erlaing tenurial instruments, and with con;icting land uses and management ob*ecti$es&The burgeoning human oulation against a limited land base causes forestland con$ersion& @ith the countrys annual oulation growth rate of '&(70, o$erty, landlessness and absence of secure tenure rights o$er secondary forest areas or logged-o$er areas ha$e become attracti$e for con$ersion into agricultural land and settlements& 4atellite mas show the remaining forest habitats in :ey biodi$ersity areas slowly being threatened by the creeing incursion of erennial cros such as coconut, abaca, as well as annual cros such as corn& =i-erent areas in the +hiliines ha$e been e.osed to this threat in $arying degrees& %n 6ebu, for e.amle, $ery few lowland forest tracts, which harbor imortant endemic secies, remain due to land con$ersion, raid urbani)ation and high oulation growth& 9$er-har$esting of resources such as medicinal and ornamental lants and wild animals for trade and domestic use has contributed to habitat degradation and dramatic reductions in secies oulations& Among the most highly ri)ed ornamental lants are the *ade $ine 1Strongylodon macrobotrys), giant staghorn fern 1Platycerium grande), waling waling 1Euanthe sanderiana) and many tree fern secies& A signi/cant number of animals, such as the +alawan eacoc: heasant 1Polyplectron emphanum), +hiliine coc:atoo 1Cacatua haematuropygia), tal:ing mynah 1Gracula religiosa), blue naed arrot (Tanygnathus lucionensis), and Asian small-clawed otter (Amblonyx cinereus), are also o$erhar$ested. E.loitation of some by-roducts of wildlife secies also endanger their sur$i$al, such as the nests roduced by the edible-nest swiftlets (Collocalia uciphaga). %nfrastructure de$eloment, such as ma*or industries, road networ:s, irrigation, water resources, ower and energy ro*ects a-ect biodi$ersity directly and indirectly& =irectly, their oerations and ossible e.ansion may disturb, ollute, or encroach uon biodi$ersity-rich ecosystems& %ndirectly, they may attract satellite de$eloments or settlements that can cause fragmentation of secies-rich habitats, ro$ide access thereto, andAor threaten the Buality of surrounding water bodies& Thethreat osed by infrastructure de$eloment on biodi$ersity-rich areas was assessed in !##5 by delineating the in;uence areas or imact )ones by the use ofC 1i2 drainage atterns of downstream imact areas to lot water ollution imact areas< 1ii2 airshed and meteorological beha$ior to lot air ollutant imact areas< and 1iii2 nearest settlements and access roads location to lot settlement imact areas& The results re$ealed that about !&D million hectares of biodi$ersity-rich ecosystems werehighly threatened by e.isting infrastructure& 4e$eral biogeograhic )ones are registering large areas under threat< these include NorthA4outh Eu)on, Mindanao, +alawan, 4ierra Madre, Eastern Fisayas and 6ordillera&>A%A HG+9THE4%4The concet of the Earth as a single organism, or ecosystem, was formulated in the mid-!#D(s by the ?ritish scientist Hames Eo$eloc:, while researching the ossibility of life on Mars for NA4As sace rogram& The >aia hyothesis, named after an ancient >ree: earth goddess, $iews the lanet as a self-regulating system in which all the indi$idual elements coe.ist in a symbiotic relationshi& %n de$eloing his hyothesis, Eo$eloc: reali)ed that the damage a-ected by humans on many of the Earths ecosystems was osing a threat to the $iability of the lanet itself& The e-ects of this disrution are now becoming aarent in the changing landscaes and climates of almost e$ery region or biome in the lanet&8or e.amle, the e-ects of climate change in the +hiliines areCMore intense El NiIo4ea surface temeratures to rise9cean acidi/cation4ea le$els to rise by 7 to D metersTroical cyclones to intensifyRainfall, ri$er ;ow and ;ooding to intensify