The Philippines is an archipelago that comprises 7,641 islands with a total land area of 300,000 square kilometers (115,831 sq mi). It is the world's 5th largest island country. The eleven largest islands contain 95% of the total land area. The largest of these islands is Luzon at about 105,000 square kilometers (40,541 sq mi). The next largest island is Mindanao at about 95,000 square kilometers (36,680 sq mi). The archipelago is around 800 kilometers (500 mi) from the Asian mainland and is located between Taiwan and Borneo.
Mount Malindang is a complex volcano located in the province of Misamis Occidental in the southern island of Mindanao, Philippines. It is the highest point in the province. The least studied mountain range was formed through several volcanic activities some of which could be historical, evident by the presence of two calderas, surrounded by high rock walls, cinder cones, dome volcano plugs, two sulfurous hot springs, and a crater lake named Lake Duminagat. The amphitheater structures have extensive distribution of volcanic rocks, carbonized wood that are found in pyroclastic deposits. The mountain range is dissected by several canyons and ravines.
Mount Pulong Bato (Columbato) is a monolith located in Zamboanga City at the Zamboanga Peninsula, the western tip of the island of Mindanao in the Philippines. The mountain is situated in the Upper Abong-Abong Park within the Pasonanca Natural Park, in Barangay Pasonanca, only a few kilometers away from the city's downtown section.
Sibalom Natural Park is a 5,511.47-hectare (13,619.1-acre) protected area in the Philippines on the island of Panay in the municipality of Sibalom, Antique. It was proclaimed a natural park on 23 April 2000. It is considered as one of the last remaining lowland rainforests on Panay.
The Mount Inayawan Range Natural Park is a protected area of forested mountains in the Northern Mindanao region of the Philippines. The park encompasses the mountain range also known as Mount Iniaoan located in the landlocked municipality of Nunungan in Lanao del Norte and covers a total area of 3,632.74 hectares with a buffer zone of 889.04 hectares. The area was officially designated as a natural park on 30 July 2007 through Proclamation No. 1344 signed by President Gloria Arroyo. It is a critical watershed area and the largest remaining rainforest in Lanao del Norte.
The Roosevelt Protected Landscape, also known as Roosevelt Park, is a protected area in the Central Luzon region in the Philippines. It occupies an area of 786.04 hectares of grasslands and old-growth forest in northern Bataan province near Olongapo and the Subic Bay Freeport Zone. The park was established as Roosevelt National Park covering an area of 1,485 hectares on 30 March 1933 through Proclamation No. 567 signed by Governor-General Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. In 1965, the national park was reduced to 1,334 hectares. On 23 April 2000, the park was reclassified as a protected landscape area and was further reduced to its present area of 786.04 hectares.
The Mount Timolan Protected Landscape is a protected area covering Mount Timolan and its surrounding forested landscape in the region of Zamboanga Peninsula on Mindanao in the Philippines. The park encompasses an area of 1,994.79 hectares and a buffer zone of 695.39 hectares in the municipalities of San Miguel, Guipos and Tigbao in the province of Zamboanga del Sur. It was established on 14 August 2000 through Proclamation Order No. 354 issued by President Joseph Estrada. The park was also earlier established by the provincial government of Zamboanga del Sur as a provincial park and wildlife sanctuary known as the Zamboanga del Sur Provincial Park through Provincial Ordinance No. 3 in 1992.
The Santa Lucia Protected Landscape, also known as the Salcedo Protected Landscape, is a protected area located in the foothills of the Cordillera Central mountain range in the Ilocos Sur province of the Philippines. It protects an important watershed that serves as the water source for the surrounding communities in the municipality of Salcedo. It had an initial area of 174 hectares proclaimed as the Santa Lucia Watershed Forest Reserve in 1938 through Proclamation No. 333 issued by President Manuel Luis Quezon. In 2000, the forest reserve was reestablished as a protected landscape area under the National Integrated Protected Areas System with the signing of Proclamation No. 296 by President Joseph Estrada.
The Rajah Sikatuna Protected Landscape is a protected landscape area of forested limestone hills, grasslands and natural springs in the island province of Bohol in the Central Visayas region of the Philippines. It is the largest remaining tract of natural forest in Bohol and one of the Philippines' top birdwatching sites. The park was initially gazetted a national park in 1987 covering approximately 9,023 hectares. In 2000, it was reestablished as a protected landscape under the National Integrated Protected Areas System covering its present area of 10,452.6 hectares. The park is one of the island's major tourist attractions located just south of the famous Chocolate Hills. It was named after the Bohol chieftain who entered into a blood-compact with Spanish conquistador Miguel López de Legazpi on the island in 1565.
The Mati Protected Landscape is a protected area located in Davao Oriental on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao. It protects the watershed in Mati which is the source of water supply for the city's Mati Waterworks System. The protected area was established in 1967 when 890 hectares of forest in Central Mati was proclaimed as the Mati Watershed Forest Reserve through Proclamation No. 222 issued by President Ferdinand Marcos. Under the National Integrated Protected Areas System, the area was reclassified as a protected landscape with the signing of Proclamation No. 912 in 2005 by President Gloria Arroyo.
The Aliwagwag Protected Landscape is a protected area that preserves a major drainage catchment in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao in the Davao Region. It contains the headwaters of the Cateel River in the southern Diuata Mountain Range which provides the water source and irrigation for surrounding rice fields and communities in Davao de Oro and Davao Oriental provinces. It was named after the remote rural village in the municipality of Cateel where Aliwagwag Falls, the country's highest waterfall, is located.
The Mainit Hot Springs Protected Landscape is a protected landscape area located in the province of Davao de Oro on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines. It preserves the sulfuric hot springs and surrounding forest in Nabunturan municipality which also contains the headwaters of the Manat River, a source of water supply for surrounding villages. First declared a national park in 1957 by virtue of Proclamation No. 466 by President Carlos P. Garcia, it had an initial area of 1,381 hectares. Under the National Integrated Protected Areas System, it was reclassified as a protected landscape through Proclamation No. 320 issued in 2000 by President Joseph Estrada. The hot springs are a popular ecotourist attraction in Davao de Oro. Its name "Mainit" is a Filipino word which means hot.
The Mimbilisan Protected Landscape is a protected landscape area located in the province of Misamis Oriental in Northern Mindanao in the Philippines. It was established in 1936 to protect the watershed forest surrounding the Mimbilisan Falls in the municipality of Talisayan declared through Proclamation No. 51 by President Manuel Luis Quezon. It had an initial area of 72 hectares and is an important source for Mimbilisan Water System that supplies water to the surrounding communities in eastern Misamis Oriental. In 1999 and again, in 2007, the forest reserve was reestablished as a protected landscape under the National Integrated Protected Areas System with the enactment of Proclamation No. 134 and Republic Act No. 9494. It is one of five declared protected areas of the Philippines in Misamis Oriental.
The Maulawin Spring Protected Landscape is a protected landscape area of forested hills and several rivers and streams located in the province of Quezon on southern Luzon island in the Philippines. It was originally created in 1939 to protect the watershed in the municipality of Guinayangan known as the Maulawin Spring Watershed Forest Reserve declared through Proclamation No. 365 by President Manuel Luis Quezon. It had an initial area of 60 hectares. In 2000, the forest reserve was enlarged and was redesignated as a protected landscape under the National Integrated Protected Areas System by virtue of Proclamation No. 295 issued by President Joseph Estrada. It is the only source of potable water for domestic consumption of the more than 40,000 residents of Guinayangan.
The La Mesa Watershed Reservation is a protected area that preserves the only major watershed in Metro Manila, Philippines. Also known as the Novaliches Watershed, it contains the last remaining rainforest of its size in Metro Manila surrounding the La Mesa Dam and Reservoir, the primary source of potable drinking water for 12 million residents in the Manila metropolitan area. The area is under the joint administration, supervision and control of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System. It was established in 2007 through Proclamation No. 1336 issued by President Gloria Arroyo.
Balinsasayao Twin Lakes Natural Park is a natural park in the Philippines surrounding Lake Balinsasayao and Lake Danao in the province of Negros Oriental, 14.5 kilometres (9.0 mi) west of Dumaguete. It covers an area of 8,016.05 hectares, with heights ranging from 830 to 846 metres. The park is located in the Mount Talinis range, also known as Cuernos de Negros, in the southern portion of Negros Island, and spans across the municipalities of Valencia, Sibulan and San Jose. It was declared a protected area in 2000.
The Angat Watershed Forest Reserve is a conservation area that protects the drainage basin in the southern Sierra Madre range north of Metro Manila in the Philippines where surface water empties into the Angat River and its tributaries. It is spread over an area of 62,309 hectares in the eastern portion of Bulacan and northern Rizal province at an altitude of between 490 and 1,206 metres. The conservation area also extends to the provinces of Nueva Ecija and Quezon and is centered on an artificial lake created by the Angat Dam which, together with the Ipo Dam located 7.5 kilometres (4.7 mi) downstream, supply 97% of the water requirement of Metro Manila via an aqueduct system to the La Mesa Dam and Reservoir and the Balara Filtration Plant in Quezon City. The Angat Dam and Reservoir is also a major source of hydroelectricity for Metro Manila and surrounding provinces, contributing some 200 megawatts to the Luzon grid. The watershed is a popular birdwatching site and is a biodiversity hotspot containing most of the remaining closed-canopy forests in Central Luzon.
The Samar Island Natural Park, in Samar, is the largest contiguous tract of old-growth forest in the Philippines. It is the country's largest terrestrial protected area, with an area of 333,300 hectares. The buffer is spread north to south over the island's three provinces and totals 458,700 hectares, about a third of the entire island of Samar.
The Upper Agno River Basin Resource Reserve is a protected area located on the southeast flank of the Cordillera Central in the Philippine province of Benguet along its border with Ifugao and Nueva Vizcaya. It is a resource reserve located high in the Central and Polis ranges protecting the headwaters of the Agno River. According to section 4 of the National Integrated Protected Areas System Act, a resource reserve is an extensive and relatively isolated area designated as such to preserve the natural resources of the area. The reserve comprises 77,561 hectares of the catchment area that feeds the Ambuklao and Binga dams, two of the country's oldest hydroelectric plants that supply power to the city of Baguio and entire Benguet province. Upper Agno is north of and contiguous with the Lower Agno Watershed Forest Reserve that preserves the immediate downstream of the Binga Dam where the Agno River is impounded by a third dam, the San Roque Dam, the largest in the Philippines and the main source of water, electric energy and irrigation for surrounding regions in Luzon.
The Lower Agno Watershed Forest Reserve is a Philippine protected area that straddles the Cordillera and Ilocos regions encompassing land from the provinces of Benguet and Pangasinan. Operated by the Lower Agno WFR Protected Area Management Board under the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Lower Agno follows the Agno River corridor from the northern villages of Itogon to just north of the municipalities of San Manuel and San Nicolas. The reserve also known as the San Roque Watershed protects the mid-Agno River basin with its meandering river and short tributaries in a pine-forested mountainous terrain at the southern end of the Cordillera Central, around 30 kilometres (19 mi) southeast of Baguio. It is located in an important mining district and includes the reservoir of the San Roque Dam, the largest dam in the country and the prime source of water, hydropower and irrigation for surrounding regions in Luzon.
