From logging to blogging: Ecotourism in the mountains of lobo, Verde island passage, Batangas province, Philippines
Issue Date
1-2017
Abstract
Mountain ecotourism is an emerging bottom-up economic activity in lesser-known mountains (LKMs) of Lobo Batangas, Philippines. This once “submerged landmass” along the Verde Island Passage (VIP) - the world’s epicenter of marine shorefish biodiversity was a “logging” settlement during the Spanish conquest of Batangas until the American colonial rule (1600s-1900s). In recent years, however, “blogging” an on-line development communication has popularized this coastal town for mountaineers. We presented the 16-year arrivals data and the mountaineers’ channels of information based on existing public records, blog sites and social media accounts. Cobenefits were extracted from pre-constructed log interview for mountaineers and oral accounts from the local community. Results show that Lobo Mountains were climbed 10,746 times since 1999 with steep segment from 2013-2015. Loboanos are pioneer climbers. The biodiversity and the recreational values of Lobo Mountains for academic mountaineers and for people from other regions of the Philippines and the world may have boosted the ascents. Most (77%) of the mountaineers have known Lobo Mountains from blogsites. The calculated recreational values of Lobo Mountainsfrom 2013-2015 was 768, 610.24PhP. The local community has agreeable perception (3.05/4.0) towards incoming opportunities (+) from mountain ecotourism primarily in terms of economic cobenefits (3.08), environmental concerns (3.06), as well as socio-cultural wellbeing (3.0). In general, the mountain ecotourism in Lobo is highly (92%) acceptable by the local community at the time being with reserved antithetical awareness on the potential disbenefits (-) that this recreational ecotourism might create in the future.
Source or Periodical Title
Asia Life Sciences
ISSN
0117-3375
Volume
26
Issue
2
Page
257-282
Document Type
Article
Language
English
Subject
Batangas Province, Blogging, Cobenefits, Forest logging, Lalayag syndrome, Lobo, Lobo Mountains, Mountain ecotourism, Philippines, Verde Island passage
Recommended Citation
Caringal, A.M., Boongaling, J.A., Arcega, J.D., Gonzales, R.R. (2017). From logging to blogging: Ecotourism in the mountains of lobo, Verde island passage, Batangas province, Philippines. Asia Life Sciences. 26 (2), 257-282.
Digital Copy
yes