Most of the conservation efforts focus on the municipality of San Mariano in Isabela Province, where three distinct crocodile breeding areas have been identified with a total minimum population of 31 non-hatchling crocodiles in 2003. San Mariano covers a large upland area from the foothills to the peaks of the Northern Sierra Madre Mountains. A former logging town, many of its inhabitants are recent immigrants who were employed by logging companies and stayed when commercial logging was banned in the early 1990s.

Towards the Sierra Madre Mountain Range, agriculture becomes less intensive and is mainly practiced as slash and burn farming. Settlements are concentrated along rivers and creeks. Land ownership is one of the main issues for upland farmers but applying for land titles is a long, costly and bureaucratic process that most communities cannot afford. Many farmers add proteins to the daily dish of rice through fishing and hunting. Fish and game are becoming increasingly hard to get because of unsustainable harvest practices.

The Philippine crocodiles in San Mariano are mainly found in the foothills of Sierra Madre, sharing creeks, rivers and lakes with upland farmers and the indigenous peoples of the area: the Agta and the Kalinga. The Local Government Unit (LGU) ofSan Mariano is an active partner in crocodile conservation. It has declared the Philippine crocodile the flagship species of the municipality, enacted local ordinances that protect the crocodiles and established the very first Philippine crocodile sanctuary of the country, covering one of the breeding areas. The process to declare a second sanctuary is under way. The sanctuaries are co-managed by local communities. The conservation program is entirely community-based; without full local consent the LGU of San Mariano cannot declare any sanctuaries.

Although the largest direct threats to the crocodiles in San Mariano have greatly diminished (killing of crocodiles, capturing live hatchlings for the illegal pet trade) and some of its core habitat is now officially protected, concerns remain about less direct threats that will hamper the successful recovery of the population. Fishing practices in the upland rivers of San Mariano are generally unsustainable: dynamite, electricity and chemicals are widely used. Also, less destructive methods are practiced such as the use of too small fishing net mesh sizes. Some rivers in San Mariano are now virtually empty of fish, not only decreasing the food supply for crocodiles but also seriously affecting local fishermen’s livelihoods, especially of poor upland farmers. The Agta and Kalinga are also victims as these groups heavily depend on fish for food and income. The fishermen using destructive methods are often outsiders, wealthy enough to afford dynamite and chemicals.

Other threats to crocodiles, upland farmers and indigenous peoples are the ongoing erosion of riverbanks caused by logging and slash-and-burn farming. Flashfloods often occur in denuded areas, carrying away crocodiles but also houses and farmland. Microclimate changes as a result of deforestation lower precipitation and water availability. The unrestricted use of farming chemicals pollutes rivers; potentially very harmful to people as river water is used for bathing, washing clothes and as the source of drinking water, especially by women. Without sufficient clean water, irrigation of rice and cultivation of other crops will not be possible. Without sufficient clean water with healthy fish populations there is no future for the crocodiles in San Mariano. Crocodile conservation and good sustainable wetland management are intrinsically linked.

Although most inhabitants of San Mariano are aware of the deteriorating state of their wetland areas, not much is done about it. Barangays (so-called villages, which are the lowest political level in the Philippines with an elected Barangay captain and Barangay councilors, usually consisting of several small villages, so-called sitios; every municipality consists of several barangays, San Mariano has 36) can enact ordinances to protect natural resources and are allowed to enforce these ordinances. The Municipal Council can do the same on a municipal level. National environmental programs and laws have to be implemented and enforced by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), which has provincial and regional sub-offices. DENR, however, is a huge bureaucratic organization plagued by budget deficits, which hampers the operationalisation of most of its programs.

Harmonization of barangay, municipal and national laws is desperately needed. Barangay councils and municipalities do often not have sufficient technical skills and knowledge to design and implement successful environmental programs. Law enforcement is weak as a result of the lack of co-ordination between stakeholders and a general fear of taking action against, possibly politically powerful, outsiders.

Summarizing, the main issues that threaten wetlands, crocodiles and people in San Mariano are: (1) the widespread use of illegal, destructive, fishery methods, (2) deforestation of watershed areas, (3) deforestation of river banks , (4) Pollution of creeks, rivers and lakes with farming chemicals, (5) a general lack of awareness of the importance of wetland conservation, (6) disharmonized local, municipal and national laws that protect wetlands, (7) the lack of a comprehensive sustainable wetland management plan, (8) the lack of coordinated action to protect wetlands and enforce laws, and (9) the lack of local capacities and skills to design and implement a sustainable wetland management plan.

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1 Van Weerd, M. (2002) The status and conservation of the Philippine crocodile Crocodylus mindorensis in the Northern Sierra Madre, Luzon, the Philippines Paper presented at the 16th Working Meeting of the Crocodile Specialist Group SSS/IUCN, 7-10 October 2002, Gainesville, Florida, USA.

2 Van Weerd & van der Ploeg (in press) A new future for the Philippine crocodile Crocodylus mindorensis. WCSP proceeding.

3 Van Boven, G. & M. van Weerd (2003) Mens en krokodil leven samen op de Filippijnen. In Ecologie en ontwikkeling No. 11.Uitgave van het Nederlands Commitee voor IUCN.