Cebu’s Black Shama / Cebu Daily News file photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines – The first synchronized island-wide Siloy Watch is set to happen at 6 a.m. on March 30, 2019 in seven towns and one city that are under the Central Cebu Protected Landscape.
Siloy Watch is organized by the Central Visayas office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR-7), the Cebu Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (Penro) and the Philippines Biodiversity Conservation Foundation, Inc. (PhilBio).
More than 100 citizen scientists consisting of farmers, mothers, students, teachers, barangay officials, private sector representatives, mountaineering groups, non-government organizations and civil society members have signed up for the first synchronized Siloy Watch.
Also expected to attend are representatives from DENR-7, the Cebu Provincial Government and the municipalities of Alcoy, Alegria, Argao, Badian, Boljoon, Catmon, Dalaguete and Malabuyoc and the City of Cebu.
The Siloy Watch program aims to count the population of the endangered Black Shama (Kittacincla cebuensis) in Key Biodiversity Areas in the island of Cebu, generate public awareness on the importance of biodiversity, and make Cebuanos experience nature with an element of fun.
Siloy Watch will follow the DENR method on Bio-Monitoring System.
Before the scheduled event, monitoring or count stations were already established and geo-tagged in each of the eight key biodiversity areas located in Alcoy, Alegria, Argao, Badian, Boljoon, Catmon, Dalaguete and Malabuyoc towns and Barangays Tabunan and Cantipla in Cebu City.
Participants will be made to undergo orientation by assigned DENR, PENRO, LGU and PhilBio (PBCFI) personnel who will be stationed in key biodiversity areas at 2:30 p.m. on March 29.
Those who are joining the synchronized event are advised to bring their own food and water provisions and camping gears. They are also encouraged to wear clothing that will blend with the their surroundings and take care of the trash that they will generate.
To date there are at least three successful citizen science programs worldwide. These are the Christmas Bird Count of the United States of America, the Garden Bird Count of the United Kingdom, the Great Backyard Bird Count in Australia.
In Asia, an Asian Waterbird Census was conducted in parts of the Philippines like Negros Island where they did a Hornbill count. They also did a Tamaraw Count in Mindoro and Tabon Count (Philippine Megapode) in Banwa Private Resort located in Roxas, Palawan. These biodiversity monitoring programs used citizen scientist and volunteers.
Those who are interested to join the first evert Siloy Watch on March 30 are advised to call DENR-CDD (Regi Bueno) – (032)414-0206, PENRO Cebu Province (Nonie) – (032) 888 2336; PhilBio (Andrew Ross Reintar) – 09156770578 and the different LGU’s involved in the count./dcb