 Adjacent to El Nido, the Protected Area
of Malampaya Sound is by far the largest NIPAP site, covering about
170,500 hectares.
In terms of biodiversity conservation, the Sound
and some of the associated coastal waters are important because
these are one of the few identified remaining habitats of endangered
marine mammals.
In 1998 as a result of the mid-term review,
Malampaya Sound dropped to a low priority rank. Later appraisals
done by the Philippine Working Group and the NGO
Environmental
Science for Social Change (ESSC) stressed the need for enhanced
protection of endangered species found in the sound and also of the
severely threatened and significantly degraded fisheries resources.
As a result of these assessments and in line with the GoP-EC
Financing Memorandum, Malampaya Sound regained high priority in
1999.
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