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The Philippines, home to over 20,000 endemic species of plants and animals, is facing a biodiversity crisis due to the constant decrease of forest cover. The Key Biodiversity Area (KBA) approach was developed to conserve species threatened with extinction using a site-based conservation strategy to select globally important sites using threshold-based criteria for species irreplaceability and vulnerability. This study investigates the applicability of remotely sensed data through geospatial analysis to quantify forest cover loss of the 101 terrestrial KBAs in the country between 2001 and 2019. Results showed that the study sites had 4.5 million hectares (ha) of forest in the year 2000. However, these sites have lost about 270,000 ha of forest in nearly two decades, marking a steady decline with an annual deforestation rate of 14,213 ha per year in these terrestrial KBAs. The majority of the study sites (58) had a high percentage of forest loss (>3.13%), and these should be prioritized for conservation. By the year 2030, it is forecast that a total of 331 thousand ha of forest will be lost unless there is a transformational change in the country’s approach to dealing with deforestation. The results of this study provide relevant data and information in forest habitat in near real-time monitoring to assess the impact and effectiveness of forest governance and approaches within these critical habitats.

Understanding the species distribution patterns of endemic and threatened species is very useful for conservation planning and actions. However, research on the distribution of many important and often overlooked species in the country, such as the Saurauia, is extremely limited. This paper provided an overview of the distribution patterns of Saurauia species across the Philippine archipelago based solely on the existing digital checklist of vascular plants. Specifically, the study produced distribution maps of the 56 endemic Saurauia species and determined their climatic distribution ranges. The methods involved geospatial and geoprocessing analysis in a geographic information system (GIS) environment. The findings showed that 29 Saurauia species are currently distributed in a single province, whereas seven (7) species have only been recorded in a certain region. Furthermore, 35 species was found to have a single type of climate. The Saurauia species identified in this paper that have only a single provincial or regional distribution record and are restricted to a single type of climate are recommended for conservation because they are mostly likely to be affected by environmental and climatic changes. Finally, the information and data derived in this paper could serve as a baseline for assessing conservation status, habitat modelling studies, species-level conservation planning, and understanding climate change impacts.

Mining is an important sector of the Philippine economy, but it often results in negative impacts on biodiversity. To mitigate these impacts, it is crucial to assess biodiversity in mining areas and integrate conservation efforts into mining operations. As part of the national policy guidelines on biodiversity compliance for mining companies, this study has conducted a systematic review to examine the various biodiversity assessment methods, tools, sampling designs, diversity parameters, values, and indices used in the Philippines' mining sites. Search engines and research databases were utilized in identifying diversity assessment-related research. Based on the eligibility criteria, only 25 of the 100 papers downloaded and two project terminal reports were eligible and considered in the review. It was found that authors commonly used transect line and quadrat methods for floral studies and transect line, mist netting, point count, and opportunistic sampling for faunal studies. Species abundance, relative abundance, dominance, frequency, relative frequency, density, relative density, percent cover, and importance value were the most frequently assessed biodiversity parameters, whereas the Shannon-Wiener diversity index, Simpson index, species richness, and evenness were the most commonly used indices. Endemism, economic importance, invasiveness, and conservation status were additional factors evaluated. Overall, this review provides an overview of the various biodiversity assessment methods used in the country's mining areas and offers guidance for future assessments in other mining landscapes. The limited number of studies related to biodiversity assessment in mining areas in the Philippines over the last decade highlights the urgent need for more research in this field.