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| All photos from official website of Lobo LGU |
Agritourism
promotes Lobo treasure house
Lobo
town sits astride the mountainous corridor in the southernmost coast of Batangas.
It
is one o f the 18 biodiversity hot spots in the country identified by the
Department of Environment and Natural Resources, United Nations Environment
Program and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
Meaning,
it has a lot to offer in the diversity of plants, animals and landscapes,
including the sea. And losing a lot of this treasure to environmental
degradation.
Here,
agriculture, ecology and tourism converge to benefit both communities and the
environment, said Anacleto M. Caringal of the University of the Philippines Los
Banos (UPLB) at the 1st National Agritourism Research Conference on-going at
the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in
Agriculture (SEARCA).
Jointly
organized by SEARCA and the Tourism Foundation, Inc. of the University of the
Philippines Diliman-Asian Institute of Tourism, the conference was held on June
27-29.
A
decade of biodiversity research from 2000 to 2011 at the Batangas State
University has prompted the Department of Science and Technology South Luzon
Region Office and the town government to advocate for Lobo as a prime
agroecoutirsm platform in Batangas.
Lobo
faces the Verde Island Passage and the diverse marine life and abundant fishery
lap at a mountain range which is home to the Philippine teak, flying foxes,
giant hardwood beetle, sugar apple, local rice varieties and tamarind forests.
“Isolated
from the rest of agropolitan Southern Luzon, they unveil a fascinating
panorama, “ said Caringal, an Associate Professor at the UPLB College of
Agriculture and Forestry's Tropical Forestry Program. “The coasts boast of lush
mangroves, submarine gardens and beach front sceneries.”
The
Lobo Ecotourism Project incorporates a development plan that is culturally
appropriate and conscious of the impact of visitors to the environment and the
rural economy. The bottom line is biodiversity conservation to ensure that
agroecotourism remains viable for generations if not forever.
“Communities
are provided the training and the skills relevant to the ecotourism industry,
made conscious of the importance of non-extractive investments in common
properties that support 'agri-cultural' and mountain tourism,” said Caringal.
“The project recognizes that as a
development strategy, tourism, especially cultural and mountain tourism, can
both perpetuate local economic development in the rural village, and encourage
biodiversity conservation on which the basic subsistence and cash economy of
the local community depends,” he said
“Lobo
possesses exceptional biodiversity features that will make this southern
frontier more attractive to local, national and even international tourists.”
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