THE Mount Malindang Natural Range Park in the Philippines and the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve in Singapore have been declared as new Asean Heritage Parks.

The declaration was made during the 13th Informal Asean Ministerial Meeting on the Environment held recently in Cambodia. Southeast Asia now has 30 Asean Heritage Parks.

Dr Monina Uriarte of the Asean Centre for Biodiversity (ACB), coordinator of the Asean Heritage Parks (AHP) Programme, said AHPs are protected areas of high conservation importance, preserving in total a complete spectrum of representative ecosystems of the Asean region.

"The AHP Programme aims to generate greater awareness, pride, appreciation, enjoyment and conservation of Asean's rich natural heritage, through a regional network of representative protected areas, and to generate greater collaboration among Asean Member States in preserving their shared natural heritage. To qualify as an AHP, parks have to meet stringent criteria such as ecological completeness, naturalness and high conservation importance," Dr Uriarte explained.

The Philippines proclaimed Mt Malindang Range as National Park and Watershed Reserve on June 19, 1971.

The protected area has a total land area of 53,028 hectares and has the following major habitats, namely: grassland, dipterocarp forest, lower montane forest, upland wetland, mossy and associated forest.

The Bukit Timah Nature Reserve (BTNR) is located in the centre of Singapore. Covering 163 hectares, the forest site includes Singapore's highest hill, the Bukit Timah Hill, which stands at 163 meters. It is about 12km from the Central Business District of Singapore.

The reserve is one of the 22 Nature Areas identified under the Singapore Green Plan 2012, which provides nationwide strategic directions to ensure the city-states environmental sustainability.

BTNR has more than 900 species of native flowering plants, out of an approximate total of 2300, and 107 species out of a national total of 170 species of ferns. There are 53 species of bryophytes (liverworts) and 19 species of algae known. Twenty-six out of a national total of 58 native mammals and 124 out of a national total of 364 bird species have also been sighted at BTNR.

Around 15 out of a national total of 37 native freshwater fishes, 58 out of a national total of 102 native reptiles, and 17 out of a national total of 28 native amphibians have also been recorded.

Asean Centre For Biodiversity